AuzenTech AZT-FORTE X-Fi Forte 7.1 Low Profile PCI Express Sound Card

Pros: X-Fi's widespread game support in a better manufactured board than Creative will ever produce. Amped headphone jack with upgradable op-amps. Actually supports the impressive list of features on the box... unlike Xonar. Auzentech has a tweaked version of Creative's drivers that address most, if not all, Vista compatability issues (I use Vista 64 and have not had a problem in any game whatsoever).

Cons: Form factor will decive people into thinking this is another Creative board with no audio processor of it own (like the X-Fi Exteme Gamer).

Overall Review: This board measures up favorably to the Xonar Essence and has the benefit of much better game compatablity and better driver support as well.

Pros: Everything about this card is a pro. Though based on the latest revision of X-FI native PCI-E chipset, every single component on the card has been replaced from stock creative to a much better quality aftermarket part. This card is small, but that same size it packs some of the best features. Headphones/mic amps, 7.1 24bit/192khz, DDL and DTS hardware encoding, ASIO 2.0, etc etc. The drivers and he software on these cards are the same as creative x-fi so you get tons of configuration options to make any home/theater audio setup sound superb.

Cons: If you're using headphones only through analog out, the Asus Xonar STX sounds slightly better if you're a hardcore music enthusiast. But it costs a lot more too.

Overall Review: For all you're mp3's, X-FI Stereo surround + 24bit crystallizer is all you're ever gonna need. Listen to one of your mp3 favorites with those 2 settings on, and you won't ever want to get a different sound card again. I dunno about "ram problems" as I am running this on a i7 @ 4.00Gigs, 12gigs of DDR3 and I havent had a single prob with this on Windows 7 RC 64-bit.

Pros: Sounds good. Headphone jack in the back is a definite plus. Low profile and fits under my video cards.

Cons: Auzentech support is very very slow. Took 2 weeks for email response.

Overall Review: First card worked, but had crackling on it. Opened Auzentech ticket, but no response, so RMA'd card. New card didn't have the same problem, and seems to work good. I like the card, but concerned with their support.

Pros: very clear and crisp sound while gaming. analog dongle is a plus for me. automatic sound profile swap per application is pretty useful. sound processing is very impressive. low profile is nice option, if you go that route. 7.1 surround processing for stereo source is pretty cool. it sends appropriate vocals to center, front, etc.

Cons: very faint interference while loading crysis and crysis wars. stops once menu is loaded up. doesn't do this on any other game i have tried. not a big deal, but weird. creative software seems to load a lot slower than it should. i installed latest software pack from auzentech site.

Overall Review: at first, i thought i made a mistake buying this. it was either this or the xonar, and since i game i went with the x-fi. after messing around with the settings, i got my music to sound the way i wanted. -windows 7 ultimate x64

Pros: I've not had any problems with drivers. Worked out of the box no CD required in Windows 7 x64 Release Candidate! Also was trouble free for me in Windows XP 32-bit and Vista x64. (Used the drivers from the CD for XP).

Cons: Haven't found any so far.

Overall Review: I love it!

Pros: Sound quality (makes my entry level logitec x-540's sound decent), headphone amp makes my old everglide s-500's roar. EAX 5.0 in vista 64bit. rock solid drivers. Upgradable OPAMPS allow the longevity of the purchase.

Cons: The length of the card gets very close to my memory dimm, also had to remove the dominator airflow fan. Not a big deal overall. Little bit on the pricey side but thats where getting the security deposit is for.

Overall Review: Took no more than 10 seconds listening to "The Great Gig in the Sky" to see how superior this is compared to the stock Supreme FX II that came with my p5e Deluxe. The price may be a deterant for those in the market but but EAX 5.0 with a non cr3ative card is worth every dollar. Still havent perfected the driver setup to have it sound to my liking but slowly workin on it. Build: p5e Deluxe x48, q9550 @ 3.85 for the summer (4+ in winter), TRUE heatsink, auzen forte, 4870 1gb, corsair dominator pc8500 @1081 cas 5 - CPL 7, corsair 750w, and all of that in a modified antec 900.

Pros: all the bells and whistles without c$eative manufacturing. paired with a rx-v663 and procinemas 600. couldnt sound better through optical.

Cons: none

Overall Review: havent had the microphone issues in gsc yet. ill repost if i do.

Pros: -It's got all the features you'd want in a great sound card, including extremely clear full-surround capability. -Comes with a Toslink cable included, so that saved a $20 run on The Shack.

Cons: I've found with both this card and also the Creative X-Fi Titanium, if you do not go into the Audio Control Panel and turn Off the Encoder, it will sit at the Shut Down screen indefinitely until you hard shutdown. Evil, evil drivers. Speaking of drivers, umm on the Auzentech site there hasn't been any released since July. Purely unacceptable. A main reason I went with this company was they supposedly had better driver support than Creative. The sheer length of the card makes it so that anybody with the stock NB heatsink on an EVGA Classified board can not fit this into the x1 slot. Ultimately went back with the Creative X-Fi Titanium Pro.

Overall Review: BOARD: EVGA X58 Classified 760 NB/SB Block: EK Classified Edition CPU: i7-920 D0 CPU Cooler: Swiftech Apogee XT PUMP: Swiftech/Koolance Uber655 RESERVOIR: EK Bay Spin RAD: Feser X-Change 360mm Xtreme GPU: 3x XFX 5870 XXX Edition TriFire SSD: 3x OCZ Vertex Turbos 30GB RAID 0 FW 1.5 STORAGE: 2x WD Caviar Blacks 640GB RAID 0 RAM: 12GB G.Skill Perfect Storm DDR3 2000 8-8-8-21 PSU: Antec TPQ1200W Modular MONITOR: Samsung 305T 30" 2560x1600 SOUND: Creative X-Fi Titanium Pro FAN CONTROLLER: NZXT Sentry 2 SPEAKERS: Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Surround KEYBOARD: Logitech G19 MOUSE: Razer Diamondback 3G Earth Green MOUSEPAD: Razer Mantis and eXactRest BD/DVD: LG Black Blu-Ray/DVD CASE: Corsair Obsidian 800D OS: Windows 7 Professional 64