retail or oem

[dc5]

i'm going to purchase this audigy 2 zs soon, however, i am unsure if this one is oem or retail. the package says "bulk", so i'm assuming it's oem.

also, is the primary difference between the oem and retail version of the audigy 2 zs is that, the retail comes with extra software, and the oem just comes with a drvers cd (no extra software)? on newegg, there is a difference of about $20 between oem and retail, but i see 80% of the people buying the retail version. are the softwares really that great?

 

[dc5]

bump

 

[daniel49]

can't say I would recommend that card its drivers are buggy as hell

 

[imported_fatal]

Save $20 & get the OEM

 

[BentValve]

Originally posted by: daniel49
can't say I would recommend that card its drivers are buggy as hell

I disagree.



Get whichever you want...retail comes with a few games and some sampler discs and it can be had for $50ish with rebates from Best Buy from time to time.

 

[Stangs55]

the card is incredible

go OEM...only difference is the useless software.

 

[imported_blackcloud]

You might want to check but I think retail gets the full warranty, while oem stuff usually get a 60 or 90 day warranty. Like I said check on it, but I know it's like that on most other things.

 

[daniel49]

__Quote:from BentValve
__________________________________________________________________
I disagree.
Get whichever you want...retail comes with a few games and some sampler discs and it can be had for $50ish with rebates from Best Buy from time to time
____________________________________________________________________


well glad its working good for you I have had exhaustive contact with thier tech support.
Its the most troublesome sound card I have ever owned.
does have nice sound though.
dan

 

[BentValve]

What specific problems are you having?

 

[daniel49]

well lets see first when I installed from the cd. It was constant spontaneous rebooting and dcom errors in event viewer.

after numerous attemps to reinstall went through an exhaustive process of uninstalling all creative drivers and programs and tried drivers only. problems persisted.
tried different pci slots Irq is not shared. problems persisted.

did updates from website. same problems.
contacted tech support took me through everything again uninstalling anything that smelled like creative.
downloaded the webdrivers 16 mb worth and installed only those drivers no cd drivers or creative programs from original cd.

rebooting and dcom errors finally stopped.
card behaved for a while now I am getting bsods from it.

would probably sell it to you for cheap:disgust:

creative needs more competition.


abit kv8 max3
amd 64 bit 3200+ stock cooling
radeon 9600
audigy2 zs
centron memory
]turbolink model 420ATX PS
alien case
winxp home sp2
dan

 

[BentValve]

I had problems with the spontaneous rebooting as well, I cannot really explain it but I am pretty sure that it just goes away if you stick it out.

I have the latest drivers installed and it has not done it since, also I have not had a BSOD except when I first installed it. Clearing the CMOS and re-installing the card from scratch seemed to cure that.


I suppose if that is what you consider buggy then yes...the inital install can be a bear on some systems...I suggest sticking it out , it really is an excellent sound card.

 

[Plumcuda1]

No problems here ... OEM version. I love it!

 

[Arcanedeath]

I will never ever put another creative soundcard in my PC again, their drivers are sooooooooooo bad and bloated it's amazing, you can pry my Soundstorm connected to my HT System from my cold dead fingers... hehe

 

[daniel49]

arcanedeath:
I have pulled it from my system temporarily using onboard sound show me what your using please . You sound like me, you expect a pci card to need no more tweaking then an update.

 

[BentValve]

Too bad it did not work out for you , you might as well sell it over in the FT/FS area..it should go pretty quick if you price it right.