Gamers - What Soundcard Are You Using?

im just using my mobos onboard havent saw the point in a sound card for years now..

even back years ago the main point of an actual soundcard was to take the load of the cpu
 
Currently using (or not) a X-FI XtremeGamer.

When it works, it's fine.
When it doesn't (currently having the well known "Only gonna show you the SPDIF output" problem), it's a pile of crap.

Creative support is virtually non-existent and their drivers are terrible.

If I can't get it fixed, I'll be buying a new card (fancy chucking some nice Asus cards on the Payday deals OcUK? ;)) and won't be touching Creative again.
 
Xonar DX. Moved from an X-Fi card a few years ago, and wow what a difference. Made me realise how bad the Creative cards and drivers were.
 
I also got a xonar dx with a audio technica ath-t500 headphones. Used to have the roccat kave, t500 is by far much better.
 
x-fi music or gamer is as good as it gets. I wouldn't get anything else.
They are about £20 for factory seconds on ebay......
 
Xonar DS, had a xfi xtreme music previously which stopped working.

I prefer the sound from the xfi, it sounded more "meaty", the xonar sounds boring in comparison.
 
I need to know which soundcard would be the best/cheapest for me.

I have a Receiver with 5.1 speaker config but the receiver doesn't support HDMI input so, Optical or Coaxial only. I'm using onboard optical out but that way i can't get 5.1 from games and DTS on encoded videos. So which sound card allow Dolby Digital Live or similar technology so that i can play pc games with 5.1 sound?

Thanks.
 
Using a Creative X-Fi Titanium HD for the headphone amp.

I would have gone for the Asus STX cards instead if I had realized how useless EAX was now. I also might want to do a bit of recording one day, so just wanted something good for headphone + recording use.
 
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Creative x-fi elite pro pci still going strong might have to get a new one when pci slots stop being on motherbroads

My previous card, I had to sell it ages ago and had to wait over a year for Titanium HD ...

I could have just gotten the Xonar STX, the only thing I was waiting for was something like that card but with EAX 5.0.
 
I used to spend a lot on sound cards my last best one was the sblive fatality range with surround speakers etc now i just make do with the onboard sound and the monitor speaker and headphones.

Priorities change when you have wife and kids.
 
I used to have a xonar dx but I had to take it out due to a few driver or gaming issues. I used to get a popping and hissing sound when alt tabbing out of games. Plus it made my mic volume very low. It was a shame as it did make games and music sound great. I may look at getting another sound card in preparation fir bf3 though.
 
Onboard despite having an X-Fi HDA Mystique in the machine. Can't be bothered finding the drivers.

Don't know if it'll make any difference either since it doesn't appear to impact frame rates anymore :p
 
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