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I bought this when I was using extremely slow single core CPU and my only sound device was external USB which was consuming 10-30% just to play mp3. This did the trick. It handles most of the audio task discretely so its great for older pc's. However, to get the BEST performance out of it I suggest going to the services menu and disabling the Creative audio services. They do nothing for you but do hog up resources. I am no longer an old system but I have still moved this card to my new system. Modern cpu's of any kind have no problem handling audio processing of onboard codex so that's no longer an issue. However, I do some recording and its nice to have ASIO support right out of the box. Less chirp sounds from on-board audio is nice (ie, every time i touch a volume slider or a piece of metal i would hear a small blip when using on-board audio...that no longer happens when using this card) The sound quality is good. There are some 3d-enhancement features which I usually dont use but I think they are good for games. There is also a "Crystalizer" function which is..MAYBE ok for certain songs while using certain speakers but generally I leave it off as I find the sound is usally best with everything off. There are 3 modes. Entertainment, Gaming, and Audio Creation. Entertainment mode Seems to make effects most available. Probably best for watching movies. Gaming mode Puts 3d CMSS in certain modes that are suited for games..I think it may also disable some channels to be more conducive for higher game performance. Audio creation. Low latency ASIO and lowest processing. There is a tab in the config for selecting Bit-matched input and output (which disables certain eq and effects and in some OS will max the wave channel volume). This is how I generally leave mine and it sounds great. Good card, but there is a reason they are cheap. If you are happy with on-board audio there is only a little bit to gain by getting this. If you want to do recording with an internal sound card this IS a good option though there is probably slightly better ones for more money. All in all I am very happy with what it is. I paid $10Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The processing that this sound card does to this day is great and holds up very well in 2018, the analog end of this sound card however is well pass the times and to be quite frank comes from a time period when people were not picky about sound quality from a sound card. We lived with computer noises messing with the sound quality and we were all probably using fairly cheap headsets with this in 2005 so we probably didn't even hear that sound in the first place but in 2018 as more people buy premium, quality headphones those computer noises come in loud and clear. This can be remedied by simply using your sound card as DSP (digital sound processor) of sorts and letting a proper optical DAC standalone or a amp/dac combo unit like mayflower's arc breath amazing new life into this old sound card. CMSS-3D never sounded as clear and accurate as it does today after going with a pair of Monoprice's Monolith M1060 on a Schiit Lyr 2 amp and a JDS Labs OL DAC. Disable CMSS-3D and you get a pretty linear sound listening experience since at that point you are relying on the external DAC to produce the sound instead of the sound card itself as its just passing the sound through without changing anything.Read full review
Verified purchase: No
an easy to install great value card. installed with Windows 10 with no problem using the Creative drivers and utility. using with Logitech z506 5:1 speakers with excellent sound quality. card is also low profile so wont interfere with airflow to other components such as a gaming video card. make sure if youre using newer motherboards, that you have a PCI slot
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
it is able to record spdif input with copyright protection
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned