which one do you think is better? i dont know much about sound cards but i know that the SE is newer. and also does it include the "What You Hear" option?

( my realtek onboard sound is horrible )

Do you really need a sound card???
Thats the first question. Onboard has gotten so much better that sound cards are a waste of money unless you are a total audiophile

well Silverion i have the same mobo as u and coming from an old Creative Augidy 2ZS , my headset is not as loud , my mic doesnt even work in ventrilo , and audio overall sounds horrible.

Really....that bad. I have an X-fi ExtremeMusic downstairs and rarely here a difference and its mainly the different speakers.

There is a speaker "bottlenecking" if I may say...

If you get a crazy soundcard but a crappy speaker, you hear crappy sound.

If you get a crazy speaker but you have a crappy soundcard, you'll still hear crappy sound.

You need to balance this.

Well downstairs (family comp.) I have a Creative X-Fi ExtremeMusic and Logitech Z-2300 which I love, nice powerful, clear bass.

Upstairs I have onboard and $15 Altec Lansing speakers and there is minor difference. Upstairs its a little less clear and the bass is distorted and has no definition to it, just sounds like a rumble.

how is that possible lmao what drivers are you using? because im having a horrible exp with sh1tty realtek

possibly, did you load the drivers on the disk you got for the motherboard?

i own the zs platinum. it has the "what you hear" option on it, idunno what you're talking about it not having it.

I love the card, it's paired with my z5300e speakers. the live drive is absolutely the most useful thing i've ever seen. the remote is stupid. I'm going to guess you'll be happier with either card, but this guy has worked flawlessly from the get-go and i've never been happier with a card. the quality is great, and it's got plenty of ins and outs.

and, for background, i do work for an audio productions company, so i know a thing or two on what a sound should sound like.

www.bassnoteproductions.com

ok well heres my situation , i currently have a Audigy 2ZS in my other rig ( old comp ) , and i remember 3 times my pc locked up i heard a wierd noise and crashed which ended up making me reformat and reinstall windows , thats why im scared to put that sound card in my current pc , can a sound card do that?

and for 30$ is the SE better then teh Audigy 2ZS since its newer.

i highly doubt a sound card screwed over your entire system. never seen anything like that. i'll be willing to bet much more it was something else. i'd use the old one.

In the past, I looked at comparisons of sound cards on the Creative Labs sight. Did you go there and look?