Looking for a new sound card

[Sedako]

My old SB Audigy 2 ZS is causing my PC to bluescreen, so I'm in the market for a new one. Would anyone have a suggestion for a good 5.1 sound card that costs no more than $50 max? Brand name is not an issue as long as it's a solid card.

 

[Asus]

< $50 is a limited selection. Have to spend more for something with current EAX support.
Might as well go for pure value at this point and get a Chaintech card.

 

[Sedako]

Well, how does this one look? I know the more expensive X-Fi cards should support EAX, but do the cheaper ones as well?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102017

Edit: Just realized that one is PCI-E 1x and I might not be able to fit it in my case. This turtle beach one looks like a nice alternative, especially after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829118109

 

[Barney Fife]

My old SB Audigy 2 ZS is causing my PC to bluescreen, so I'm in the market for a new one. Would anyone have a suggestion for a good 5.1 sound card that costs no more than $50 max? Brand name is not an issue as long as it's a solid card.

Why is your old card giving you the BSOD?
Did you try to narrow down the source? Whether it's software related issue than hardware?

The Audigy 2 aren't old enough to give you the BSOD, rather, see if driver is update-able; if you recently switched OS. Or, maybe software disc is damaged?

Be sure; you're absolutely, positively certain; that the card is damaged (Which is the only thing, that could cause BSOD) before throwing it away and shop for new card.

My little girl still uses the Audigy Platinum, which is older than the Audigy 2. So, you might be throwing away a good card.

Good Luck.

 

[Sedako]

Yeah, I'm 100% sure it's the hardware. I've tried multiple driver versions over both XP and Vista, all resulting in a BSOD once I start playing music. When I switched over to onboard, the problem went away.

 

[Barney Fife]

Sometimes, its got a lot to do with drivers. Believe me.
I can't explain the entire reason/s why a new driver refuses to work properly, but here are few.

1) The old driver being corrupted therefore, refuses to be removed.
2) Corrupted registry key, too many orphaned keys.
3) Errors in the system32
4) conflicting IRQs (Two sound cards in the same system).

Re-installing OS (Backup your stuff first), disable the on-board sound-card in the BIOS and see what happens.

All this? Because, I don't want you to spend $50.00.

Good Luck.

 

[Chug a Bug]

I'm using an Audigy 2 ZS I'm having zero problems here...

 

[Barney Fife]

I'm using an Audigy 2 ZS I'm having zero problems here...

My little girl uses my old Audigy platinum; I used to DJ with, back in my collage years. It is still kicking, matter of fact, I have yet to see a discarded Sound card because of hardware issue. Incompatibility? Yes, but I never heard of, for hardware issues.

 

[okjygfdfdvhu]

How about M-Audio 5.1 Sound Card? I just got this one online at a pretty low deal price of $40. I think it's a good one for me. Maybe you can look up
http://www.dealstudio.com/searchdeals.php?deal_id=70039