Sound card, creative??

[tim_bethany]

Hi there I did post something relating to my sound issues on the audio section but no reply and it’s a bit different anyways

basically I would like to get a sound card to solve a problem I am having with onboard sound, I have heard a lot about creative mainly being that there drivers are rubbish for windows 7 users etc

My questions are
1. Has creative got the act together and do all the drivers for their products now fully support windows7 64 bit?
2. What sound card can u recommend that’s around £100 or less, ideally I want it to be PCI and not PCI-E because it will keep the airflow up and temp down

The sound car will only really be used for gaming mostly and it needs to be good for using microphone in game etc at the moment I have a 2.1 sound system (amBX) but might be getting z-5500 soon

I have looked at the Asus Xonar D2 and was previously looking at the Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series but both to expensive as I don’t really need a top end card.

My setup is

Windows 7 64bit
Antec 902
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P
AMD Phenom II x4 OC'd @ 4 GHz
Earthwatts 750
4 x Corsair XMS2 CM2X1024-6400
2 x ATI Sapphire 5770 Vapour-x
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro
SAMSUNG HD103SJ
Samsung ST3160812AS
Dell SP2208WFP (HDMI)
G15 Keyboard
G7 Mouse
Creative Fatal1ty Headset (2 jack’s version)
amBX Premium kit

 

[tim_bethany]

anyone?

 

[Scotteq]

I doubt you'd find many supporters of Creative here... And certainly not on Win 7 or Vista.

How about an Asus Xonar, instead? They make a few versions: This one is low profile, since you mentioned airflow.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132007

{edit} Yes, I am aware I linked a US site. Should be simplicity to find an eTailer in the UK who can get you the same. It's US$89, so something like 40 quid... or maybe a small bag of belly button lint. Depending, of course, on the current exchange rate.

 

[saaiello]

Foe under $100 get either an HT striker or ASUS Xonar dont get the cheap creative sound cards they are rubbish the only card that I know of for sure works on windows 7 is the creative X-Fi Titanium series.

ASUS Xonar D2 £103.15
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136260

Creative X-Fi Titanium £74.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166003

Now I have the X-Fi Titanium on windows 7 64bit and I never had a problem with it but some have either card will give you great sound quality.

Check out my thread on sound cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/279364-28-sound-card

 

[gamerk316]

The ASUS Xonar D2 is down in price, making it more attractive then it was when it was at $179. Still, for under $100:

ASUS Xonar DS (~$50) [Lacks Dolby encoding support]
HT Omega Striker (~$89)
ASUS Xonar D1/D1X (~$89) [Lacks DTS encoding support]

The ASUS cards have the advantage of EAX emulation, but the HT Omega Striker has full connectivity (SPDIF In/Out ports, and a dedicated line in port) and both Dolby and DTS technologies. The ASUS Xonar D2/D2X gives the best of both worlds, but costs a bit more. If you don't bother with Digital SPDIF signals, the DS should be plenty.

 

[tim_bethany]

ok thanks, yeah jsut kinda renforcing what i thought already look at the DS, D1 & D2 depending how much i want to spend, would like to see the Strike but no one else it in the UK

 

[tim_bethany]

also what would be better Asus Xonar D2 or a ASUS Xonar 1.3 Deluxe

 

[gamerk316]

The HDAV1.3 is meant more for home theatre systems (hence its HDMI input/outputs). For PC gaming, its overkill. Pure performance is slightly better then the D2/D2X though.

 

[tim_bethany]

ha yeah might have made a mistake then, i got the HDAV1.3 for £65 from ebay however it is "untested" lol will see what happens tho for 65 quid cant go wrong unless of course it dnt work lol

 

[gamerk316]

It'll do its job and do it well; having the main analog outs on a seperate board helps protect them from interfearence, the D2/D2X is simply a better package for a gaming PC though. [Ironically, I now with I had a HDAV1.3, as I could then get 7.1 audio without any problems.]