Hi guys, I've been using integrated sound for the past year or so since I upgraded my rig (and lost all my pci slots where my old x-fi went) and I think I'm finally do for a dedicated sound card again. I usually play Starcraft 2 and Battlefield 3 with my Sennheiser HD280's, but have been known to break out some "classics" like UT2004 and BF2. I haven't been paying attention to sound card tech for the past few years, so I was wondering if you could fill me in an recommend a card for less than $120 and answer a few of my questions.
Is EAX support still worth anything? I know that since Vista, the standard was supposed to turn to OpenAL, but I'm not sure how many games actually use that.
Is Creative's Titanium HD worth the price increase over the regular Titanium version? Max PC was raving about how the HD was designed from the ground up for Vista/7, but I'm not sure that even means anything .
Finally, I remember "back in the day" X-Fi cards were probably the best in the business for positional audio (either through eax or their virtual headphone surround) and I was wondering if they still have that going for them or if other brands/oems (like asus) are similar.
Thanks for your help and I look forward to hearing back!
Is EAX support still worth anything? I know that since Vista, the standard was supposed to turn to OpenAL, but I'm not sure how many games actually use that.
Is Creative's Titanium HD worth the price increase over the regular Titanium version? Max PC was raving about how the HD was designed from the ground up for Vista/7, but I'm not sure that even means anything .
Finally, I remember "back in the day" X-Fi cards were probably the best in the business for positional audio (either through eax or their virtual headphone surround) and I was wondering if they still have that going for them or if other brands/oems (like asus) are similar.
Thanks for your help and I look forward to hearing back!