I need a sound card for this PC, since the one I have doesn't want to work with Sonar... the problem is that I've got 64bit Vista, which greatly limits my options. The only card I've found that seems to fit everything I need is the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer... but it's Creative. Anyone have any suggestions?

Well what exactly is it that you need?

Yes give us all these things that the X-Fi Gamer fits.

Otherwise, as it stands, my suggestions is to just get that one.

vista... lol

creative is expensive junk

i would recommend the 'audio pci', but your fancy new tech doesn't even work with 32-bit pci

ergo, a usb sound stick is my suggestion

I don't really like Creative either, but their products are rather nice now, and their drivers have been good since the Audigy 2 beta drivers back in 2003 or 2004.

Creative gets the benefits of whatever research or technology is developed at E-MU, since they bought them years ago. Ever wonder what the "emu" in "emu10k" meant? The technology for the chips in the Audigy originated at E-MU, and in fact the drivers are often compatible. For example, my E-MU 1212m and Audigy 2 used to share some driver files from the Audigy 2 when I had them installed in the same system.

Well, I guess the X-Fi would work then... the recording interface I'm getting has an audio out though, so I might not even need to get a sound card.

Does using an onboard card put stress on the processor though? I might get one anyway for games, I guess.

Creative makes decent stuff... Overpriced but not bad. I usually stick with onboard sound just because its more convenient than giving up a slot and case space.

i'm happy with my xtremegamer. sometimes i feel like i should have gotten teh one witht eh front sound panel but i just couldn't justify the $$$.