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This sound card features EAX 5.0 sound effects that immerses you in the gaming experience by delivering larger than life sound for everything from crackling gunfire to earth-shattering explosions.
Customers frequently mention the exceptional sound quality of this product, noting that it far surpasses onboard audio. It is also considered a great choice for gaming sound cards.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
I just finished building my own rig, and the onboard realtek chip set claims dolby 8.1 sound. Nice claim, but most if not all motherboard sound is weak in terms of power output. For those that want to enjoy high quality sound from their speakers, whether 2.1/5.1/7.1 configuration an external sound card is the way to go. This is the second fatality card I've bought and put in my computer systems, the difference in output to my Logitech X-540 5.1 sound system is phenomenal. One note to all is that your system should have an a power supply that can support the additional power requirements that a sound card imposes on the system. Most stock systems have an underpowered power supply so one should look at its sustained power output which should be at a minimum 550watts. If not invest in a new power supply, they are easy to swap out, just follow the wires one by one and all the connectors are designed to be fool proof and they are well worth the $75.00 to upgrade and enjoy the sound from this most splendid card.
Posted by TechDude101
I got this card for under $50, due to it being on sale for $99 + $55 in reward certificates I had. And what a worthwhile purchase! Next to the Titanium Fatal1ty Champion, this is the top sound card you can buy. Okay, I'll spell it out for you all so you don't run circles around yourselves installing drivers. First of all, before you shut off your PC to install the card, disable Windows automatic update. Turn off PC, install card. You'll have no sound when you come into Windows. Put in installation disc and let it do its thing. After that's done and it reboots, you'll have sound. Now go to the Creative folder and open Creative Software AutoUpdate, and it will come up with around 300MB of updates. THIS IS IMPORTANT, only do about four at a time starting with the top going down. This is so Windows doesn't freeze up on you. Once you reboot and do this process about 3 times, and re-enable Windows Auto Update, you'll be all set up! Can't wait to hook this up into my Z-5500 5.1 digital surround system that's coming tomorrow!
Posted by Boromir028
I had gone through 3 other sound cards. I was trying not to spend more than $50, but the lower end cards had things wrong or did not work at all. I tried two PCI cards and one other PCI express card. No luck. So I decided to bite the bullet and go for the more expensive Creative Mutlimedia card. It was difficult to install because the motherboard had the cmos battery right next to the PCI-E slot. I had to take off the casing of the card before I could get it in. But, lo and behold, the card worked! No problems at all since the purchase. I have not tried all aspects of the card, but the sound is so much better than the onboard audio. I should have known better than to try something other than Creative.
Posted by mbrownx4