do i need a new soundcard?

hey!

just a quick one, i have a great gaming/music setup with logitech 5500 surround speakers, however the onbaord audio on my gigabyte p35-ds3r seems pretty average, and in games it doesn't work well at all (tempermental sound, cuts in and out and is quiet dependsing what is on the screen).

what is a good soundcard to get as an upgrade for music and games? i don't need the top of the range, i just want something with usrround sound and hopefully an optical output?

thanks

jt

any newer Creative Labs card will do for gaminig

Just any mid-range ($70-$100) card will do by pretty much any manufacturer, spending anymore would be a waste as your speakers aren't that great.

aye i agree with th_username go for the asus xonar sound card , much better than creative imo , ive had soo many issues with creative products , got myself the Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card and havent looked back , you dont need the more expensive version as this one does it all imo.

they may be the best for pc for 5.1, but that ain't saying much, sorry once you haer better speakers you can't go back, it is a disease.

also, unless that asus support the lastest eax and openal, no point buying it.

? creative are gaming cards, it is all they really are.

i am not sure about the power of the asus but unless all your games support openal and the asus can handle power that well, for gaming a x-fi is really a must IMO.

EAX2 is just not going to have the same smoothness in games as the later versions.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2 [...] oundcard/1

read this review and spec's . shows clearly EAX '5' support

aye but as far as im conserned , as alot of others are , creative can go swing , after the way they treated Daniel K (see below)

http://forums.creative.com/creativ [...] ing&page=1

they can kiss my butt , as alot of you should do and support either Asus or if your soo keen on performance and eax true hardware then go for Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card which has the chip on it , but please teach creative a lesson for being such tossers , i was all for them when i could get the drivers from Daniel K , but then they acted like prats.

imo for best compromise go for the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card then , its essentially a creative card but with better build quality. so you get the eax and better support.