Sound card recommendations?

April 4, 2008 9:32 PM

[SoundCardFilter] What are your recommendations for a PCI-based gaming sound card on Windows Vista?

I'm using Vista Ultimate 32-bit right now, and the popping, crackling sound and low-volume mic inputs on my Shuttle SD39P2 (Realtek ALC888 built-in sound) are starting to get to me. What are your recommendations for a high-end PCI sound card? I do a lot of gaming and listening to music!

I'd especially like to hear if anyone's had some good experiences with non-Creative products (I've heard not-so-good things about their Vista drivers). Thanks folks!

posted by trokair to computers & internet (5 answers total)

I'm using the Creative Fatal1ty Pro soundcard (with the front panel ins/outs) under Vista SP1, and have been for about a month. So far, no problems, no blue screens. Just my $0.02
posted by fvox13 at 10:22 PM on April 4, 2008

I had to uninstall my X-Fi as the drivers aren't up to it - the microphone wouldn't work in Skype. Went back to onboard sound which works fine.
posted by kenchie at 3:22 AM on April 5, 2008

Psst. If you go on some popular torrent sites, you can download the pack of re-engineered drivers released by Daniel K which fixes the issues with the Vista drivers that come from Creative.

I'm look at the same route at the moment, after the whole shitstorm that has occurred over on the creative forums, I've been strongly thinking about getting a different brand of audio card.
posted by chrisbucks at 4:38 AM on April 5, 2008

Stay away from Creative, they are not long for this world.

Check out M-Audio, the Revolution 7 is a great card.
posted by Cosine at 11:15 AM on April 5, 2008

Oops, apparently the M-Audio's have the same driver sucking problems as Creative... damn, anyone else?
posted by Cosine at 11:19 AM on April 5, 2008