Pros: To start off with, I assure you that I had no problems whatsoever installing this card, or the drivers for it. I downloaded the latest drivers from the Creative Labs website, installed the card in my computer, then installed the drivers. After letting it auto update, all was well. The sound quality on this is amazing compared to onboard sound. As soon as I started up an mp3, I was blown away. And that was BEFORE enabling CMSS-3D, Bass Boost and X-Fi Crystallizer. The CMSS-3D software is astounding. It decodes surround sound and plays it through your stereo headphones, all of the wonderful audio positioning still intact. The demo that they included to test the feature scared the heck out of me when I first started it up. It's a really loud helicopter flying in circles aorund your head, and the positioning is good enough that I though a helicopter was outside my house for a second. X-Fi Crystilizer and Bass Boost do what they should, and they do it well.

Cons: CMSS-3D mutes some of the tenor sounds, but they can be brought back by calibration of the X-Fi Crystilizer software. Wasn't free.

Overall Review: Did not come with a unicorn.

Pros: Fast as hell for the price. I got mine two years ago and it is still running strong. Just ordered another to run in SLI, and it is FAST. Runs Crysis at full detail, 1920x1080, 2xAA, 8xAF at 30-45 fps. Simply amazing

Cons: Has some problems. In certain 3d applications, there is a flicker that happens when a flat plane intersects with a complex geometric object. It's quite annoying in Oblivion, as the water plane flickers around the edges of the terrain in the Distant LOD. If this bothers you, go the the red corner and get a RadeonHD 4870. They're about $50 cheaper and offer almost exactly the same performance.

Overall Review: This card was a steal about two years ago. It had the best "Bang for the Buck", as it were, at that time. Now, however, it's a bit too pricey for the performance. I would just go with a GTX460 or an ATI Radeon HD 4870. Both are good alternatives.

Pros: Very nice card, good looking, performs well, does everything I need, can run crysis with rygels high res textures at around 40 fps average, which is fantastic, and will run assassins creed at, get this, 60 fps stable! i mean, WTH? My GTX260 couldn't get more than 45 in that game!

Cons: HDMI output is finicky, but its fine for me, I use DVI.

Overall Review: great card, planning to buy another one come winter for x-fire.