Out of the two choices that you listed I would go with the Sound Blaster. The Monster sound card drivers dont work to good with the KT7,KT7-Raid mobos. You will have to download the Vortex driver for the Monster sound card to keep your system from crashing all the time if you go the Monster sound route. The Sound Blaster drivers work great with the KT7,KT7-Raid mobos. I know about the Monster sound card from first hand experiance.