Hi,

I just got a new custom built PC with the Asus Striker II NSE motherboard, which came with their little SupremeFX sound card. The card is installed on the board but I can't get it to work. The system says its not installed, and I can't seem to get any drivers working for it, either from the support CD or downloaded - I just keep getting errors (a "hardware not compatible" error when I'm trying to install drivers from their own CD for their own sound card which is installed on their own motherboard???).

Anyway, I want to ditch this card and install my own oldish but reliable Audigy SB 2 ZS http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=302657.

I'm not too technically minded so I've got a couple of questions for anyone who is familiar enough with this particular motherboard (http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=347288).

The first thing is that the interface type on my soundcard is "PCI" but the mobo seems to have slots for "PCIe". Are these compatible?

The second thing is that the supplied SupremeFX card doesn't seem to use a regular sized PCI slot and is connected to the mobo some other way. Do I need to remove this card or would it be ok to leave it there, seeing as how the system doesn't seem to know its there in the first place?

Thirdly, I'm really not familiar with BIOS options. Do I need to change anything in the BIOS if I'm not going to be using their sound card?

Fourth and finally - The Audigy card I have is a couple of years old at this stage and was built for Windows XP / 2000 etc. Will this work ok with Vista? Are there new Vista drivers I can get for it?

Thanks!

Since its an 'internal' sound card you'll have to activate in the BIOS.

1) No PCI and PCI-e are not compatible however the board does have regular PCI slots.

2) The card uses a PCI-e x1 slot, built on the same technology as your graphics ports. If the system isn't seeing the card its either disabled in the BIOS or not functioning, either way you can leave it out.

3) Yes, there is an option but it sounds like yours is disabled because if it is enabled but the card isn't plugged in Windows will try to install and use it.

4) There are now some beta drivers from creative labs that apparently work under Vista although they are still beta.

Yeah, read your manual and find out where to turn the on-board sound on and off, (it's in your BIOS) sounds like it is turned off.
Soundblaster + Vista =troubles. Your old card will work in one of the standard PCI slots, not the PCIe though. You can turn off the on-board sound in the BIOS and install your regular sound card. However, be warned that all you will get is very basic sound in Vista, as Creative (the A-holes) have not written any decent drivers for Vista yet.