Audigy or not?

I'm on the verge of buying a new PC. Just need to know a quick question:

The computer I'm going to buy will be used quite a lot for gaming, as well as some DVD viewing, as well as for some mp3s. I'm also going with the Creative Inspire 5.1 5300 speakers. The motherboard with the computer will be the Asus P4S533, which uses the SiS 645DX Chipset. Looking at the specs of the mainboard, it comes with sound:

Audio
C-Media CMI8738 6-channel hardware audio controller
S/PDIF-in/-out interface

Knowing how I'm going to use my computer, do you think it's worth it for me to order an Audigy card? Or should I just stick with sound that comes with the mainboard?

I definitely agree with Black Cat, I've got an Audigy Gamer card in my file cabinet in storage, since I changed over to the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz its a much better sound card in my opinion, from someone that owns both.

You never know what you can do until you try.

You may be perfectly happy with the onboard sound. Give a listen and see what you think. You could always order the TBSC later on.

To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.

I would upgrade the speakers, but then suggest an upgrade to the Audigy if you get some worthy speakers.
Many people (early adopters) had problems with audigys on first release but they've gotten perfectly stable now..
I've had many problems myself but its all fixed now with the new unified driver and the newest via 4in1s.

I've found creative isnt perfect but their stuff is stable, they just get a unnecessarily bad rap from crappy hardware like buggy via based boards.

If your gaming theres no reason not to use audigy the sound is rich, positioning is great and is the only card to support EAX3 acceleration in hardware.
You can hear EAX Advanced HD on other cards but it will have a fairly large performance hit (because the CPU has to do the calculations).
It also has the lowest cpu utilization rate of any gaming card and has the onboard firewire port.

I'm about to try Jedi Knight 2 with the latest EAX3 patch and will report back here on it.. but it sounds fantastic in Grand theft auto 3 (eax 3 that is). Some reviews say that using an audigy for sound almost is like having no sound being played, that low of cpu utilization.

One note of suggestion if your getting a athlon board dont get a VIA based board but a Nforce preferably or a SIS.

The problem is VIA has problems with tons of hardware, Creative's Audigy only has a problem with VIA boards, so if that doesnt tell you whos at fault I dont know what does!
But it works great with any other motherboard chipset.

Athlon XP 1700+,KT266A,Geforce3, Audigy.. 'nuff said.

I think its an injustice to have this mob mentality against the audigy for no reason, and it seems to be worse on this forum specifically than others that I visit.

Case in point theres nothing wrong with goign audigy, ask fatburger he's been using one and has LESS problems than i have!! and i love the thing.

But yes, that is my opinion but I have found through experience that it is true, for me.

Some of that sentiment about the audigy is based off of early adopters who have cutting edge motherboards and use a just released audigy, expect it to work perfectly first time out and now that the audigy issues have been resolved everyone continues to poop on everyone elses party because they either sold their audigy or bought something else.

Its to bad some chose to get rid of it rather than wait for a fix or driver update.
But theres nothign wrong with it!
Put one in a SIS board, a nforce or intel board, no problems, put it in a via board and watch out.. hell watch whenever you put anything in a via board.

I dont work for creative, I sincerely think its the best gaming sound card out.. thank you come again.
I have always demanded EAX/A3D support out of my older games and used creative.. now I use audigy because I want the latest sound support (EAX3).

The way I see it is, if your not using an audigy you might as well be using onboard. and without eax3 support you might as well be.. now if your a professional i wouldnt suggest the audigy.. but if your a gamer why buy something thats already obsolete (GTXP with EAX2 support)?

Thats just my opinion and I hope you understand my view.

Athlon XP 1700+,KT266A,Geforce3, Audigy.. 'nuff said.

Kinney, once again you missed my point entirely. Everyone i've seen post here favoring the Sensura over the Creative has moved to Sensura from Audigy and they prefer Sensura...

They prefer it for the sound, features, price combination.

I personally did NOT have technical problems with the audigy.

I prefer the GTXP over the Audigy cause i like the sound quality better, i like the positioning better, i like the warmth of the sound instead of the harshness better, it sounds better on my headphones, my games run smoother with it, and its ALOT cheaper than the Audigy PlatEx.

Tehcnical difficulties don't figure into that cause i've had none with either card!

My point? You CANNOT say the Audigy is a superior sounding card in the face of all the people on this forum who've tried the SC or GTXP and decided they actually like it better than the Audigy. I'm not saying the GTXP is a superior card to the audigy either. What i'm saying is that NO one should be standing up and saying one card is absolute king and there's no reason to go with a different one. It all depends on your personal preferences. THERE ARE reasons.

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the empires state building, along came goblin, wiped the spider out<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by williamc on 07/18/02 10:57 AM.</EM></FONT></P>