vista 64 sound card advice

[notherdude]

I haven't looked into sound cards for a while but I just got the Logitech z5500 speaker system and I want to upgrade my old audigy se card. Basically I want something that's working fully with Vista and will be a noticible upgrade from my old card for both music and games. Oh, and movies too. Must be under $200.

Thanks.


e6600 @3.5, 6 gig ram, asus p5b deluxe, Vista 64 ultimate

 

[Scotteq]

Kind of extravagant for a soundcard, but I've heard good things and have been considering one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829156005

 

[notherdude]

Thanks Scotteq.

 

[Scotteq]

I went ahead and bit the bullet - I have one of those on the way. I'll post how it works out.

 

[Weirdo0815]

I'm actually running a Creative X-Fi on Vista 64 at home and I haven't experienced any problems with it. Just make sure you download the latest driver from Creative.

 

[dobby]

recently creative have caught up to speed and there vista drivers are quite good

 

[notherdude]

For a while there was some patch or extra software you had to get for advanced 3d gaming sound, IIRC, is that still the case?

 

[Scotteq]

I'm aware that some cards need special drivers to digitally decode on the fly - ("Dolby Digital Live"). But to my limited understanding that's home theatre stuff.

 

[Scotteq]

God I love Newegg - They have a Warehouse not far from where I live - the Auzentech card was waiting for me when I got home.

Install - Ummm... It's a PCi card... Has the standard 10 pin connector for the front panel, which my case has. So plug in the card. Plug in the connector, screw the thing down, and close the case.

DL'd the very latest driver/app from their website (dated 12/21), which includes the Digital Live stuff. OK fine...

Long term usage remains to be seen, but this is the first sound card that made me want to upgrade my home stereo. Definitely getting a new headset - I brought the Denon headphones I use upstairs down and they sound better on this card then they do on the stereo! Not that I have a high end system, but still.. Clearer highs, deeper and more powerful bass. Even streaming music over the web sounds hugely better. It's also WAY more powerful in terms of output than the Berenstein thing that came with my Mobo.

A quick jaunt through a couple levels of Bioshock - More detail than I've heard before, and WAY better positional info - I can hear whether something is above or below me, rather than just being 'present'. Granted, the Denons are far better headphones than my gaming ones, so I can't credit the sound card for all of it. But still.

Wasn't cheap, but I'm happy. Just need to put it to more/better use.