Good Cheap Sound Card Replacement For Audigy ?

Greetings Geeks.

I would like to replace my current Creative Audigy SE with something else. I have 2 games that give me intermittent sound problems. Well, one is intermittent and the other is always.

The first is Unreal Tournament 3. It crackles, pops, skips, stutters, etc. Upon researching the problem, the consensus is that it is a problem with the hardware and that particular game engine. There is not fix.

The second is the HL2 series. It only happens on occasion, but enough to bring me here. I have tried drivers, tweaked settings, etc. with no luck for both.

So, I would like to buy a non-Creative product on the cheap. They had a previous debacle in compatibility issues with my previous card, so I just want to steer clear of them entirely. I basically use my system for gaming, a 2.1 speaker setup with occasional headphone use. I don't need hi-fi.

Any suggestions? I want to keep it as cheap as possible. I am running Vista. Thanks for any input.

 

Have you researched to see if there is a problem with the creative SoundBlaster. as they can be purchased from as little as £35 (OEM), and they are really good cards.

 

I had an SB, but they don't work with Vista. I had one with XP, and when I upgraded to Vista the SB did not work, nor was it supported by Creative. But . . .

There is apparently an easy software fix to make it compatible. A home-brew programmer took it upon himself to program and distribute a fix for free. As a result, may users like myself did not need to run out and purchase a new Sound Card. Creative promptly served the user with a Cease and Desist order. They wanted people to go out and buy new sound cards for obvious reasons.

That is the prime reason I don't want to purchase another Creative card. They don't support me, I don't support them.

 

Drivers can cause this - so too can a crowded hard drive or improperly configured PF.

Does the motherboard have on-board sound? If so, try that and see if the same thing happens.