Soundcard recommendation?

[imported_trajan]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a mid to high range sound card? ($60-$130?) It's for a Conroe system, hopefully on a ASUS p5w-DH mobo.

I'm aiming to make it a really great gaming rig, and also something I can watch DVDs on. I'm not an audiophile, though, and am not planning on doing music composition / editing / etc or anything else fancy. Starting out with a 5.1 speaker system but could eventually move up to 7.1.

I've shopped around a bit but not-being-an-audiophile and definitely-being-a-newbie have made it hard for me to understand what is really different between say a $40 card and a $100 card.

Thanks again to everyone who's already helped me plan my rig! -- it will be my first build, ever, and I'm nearing the end of the planning stages.

 

[1N0V471V]

Don't waste your money. Onboard is more than enough.

 

[orangat]

For gaming, there is no choice but to buy a Creative card because it has eax3/4/5 support while other manufacturers are stuck at eax2. Get one of the xfi's.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What kind of speakers are you using?

7.1 isn't a big deal over 5.1

X-Fi fits your requirements, and there have been some very nice deals lately on them.

 

[imported_trajan]

Thanks for your help!

As to speakers, right now just a 5.1 Logitech set, not sure of the exact type (at work right now). But eventually I might upgrade to something better. I also am planning on getting a good pair of headphones.

My main priorities are making sure I get all the sound effects possible while taxing my cpu as little as possible.

Do you know of any great deals going on right now? Based on the recommendations here I'm currently looking at getting the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic, $122 at NewEgg.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Here's $80AR
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1904294&enterthread=y

(used to be better)

 

[imported_trajan]

Awesome, thank you! I just ordered. That saves me $40!