Soundblaster audigy 2 ZS

[executioner]

Planning to upgrade my pc soon and right now I have a PCI sounblaster audigy 2 card, and wanted your thoughts if it would be better to sell it or is it beneficial to have an audio card and not use the onboard audio. My guess is that new motherboards have probably caught up with my audigy's features, or is it worthwhile to have a standalone PCI card? I know selling it would probably score about $20 or less but its something. I would also welcome motherboard and Intel processor recommendations.

[Mozgus]

Most motherboards will provide far more reliable realtek audio chips than that piece of shit Audigy 2 ZS. I got rid of that card because of all the nightmares it brought me. It literally was the cause of my monthly BSOD, and its a well documented issue online that creative ignores. It also randomly uninstalled itself from my PC. Very very few games use EAX, and if they do, its EAX2 which realtek still handles.

[Niode]

If you are buying a modern motherboard you won't have any reasonable reason to use a soundcard since most modern motherboards have support for HD audio (IE 192khz 24bit) over 8 channels (7.1). This is either in the HD Audio or Realtek AC9X integrated chipsets. Some chipsets (like the one on the ASUS P5Q-Deluxe) even include SPDIF and optical TOSLINK for output to a separate decoder/home theatre setup.

The only thing you are losing is support for EAX. Which isn't such a huge loss anyway.

[executioner]

It also randomly uninstalled itself from my PC. Very very few games use EAX, and if they do, its EAX2 which realtek still handles.

And here I thought the frequent uninstalls was something wrong with my hardware setup. I got it out of the pc months ago and found it in a drawer yesterday. Gonna get rid of it.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

If your looking to futureproof I reccomend Intel Core i7 but if your looking to upgrade in another 2 years then a 3.0ghz Core 2 Duo works fine.

[executioner]

If your looking to futureproof I reccomend Intel Core i7 but if your looking to upgrade in another 2 years then a 3.0ghz Core 2 Duo works fine.

Last time I thought about upgrading in 2 years and I'm still running a P4 3.0ghz since god knows when.