Ok, I just grabbed a Soundblaster Audigy Platinum eX and a new Antec Performance Plus case at CompUSA... First off the case kicks ass - same # of case fans (6) but with less than half of the noise.

Now on to the card. This card is awesome! It not only supports the EAX Advanced HD technology, it also boasts two ieee 1394 Firewire plugs, the external Audigy drive, and at least 12 more connection types:

MIDI, Optical SPDIF, Coaxial SPDIF, RCA Input, 1/8 inch input, 1/4 inch input (straight from my guitar amp), and 5 analog outs from the card itself.

Amazing card. It also comes bundled withL FruityLoops 3, Ulead VideoStudio 4, Cubasis VST, Wavelab Lite, ReCycle Lite, and Acid Style 2.0

It will take me months just to play with everything. Also it installed perfectly in my system. I upgraded from the Live 5.1 & I didnt even have to reboot - XP picked it out & started working immediately after I booted the first time. In other words: I plugged & it PLAYED! All I can say is WOW!

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MSI 875P NEO-LSR Mainboard - Intel P4C 3.0Ghz (800Mhz FSB) - 2 x OCZ PC4000 512MB DIMMs - 4 x WD800JB 80GB/8MB Cache (RAID 0+1) - SB Audigy Platinum eX - ATi Radeon 9800 Pro AIW - Sony Trinitron 19" - Windows Server 2003 Enterprise

Thanks for the mini-review! This may just be my next hardware purchase when someone really gives me a good reason to dump my SBLive card.

I even left out about half of the software apps. This thing is bad... It has all of the titles from all of the different Audigy types (mp3,gamer,etc...)

Again I say WoW!.

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MSI 875P NEO-LSR Mainboard - Intel P4C 3.0Ghz (800Mhz FSB) - 2 x OCZ PC4000 512MB DIMMs - 4 x WD800JB 80GB/8MB Cache (RAID 0+1) - SB Audigy Platinum eX - ATi Radeon 9800 Pro AIW - Sony Trinitron 19" - Windows Server 2003 Enterprise

It does seem cool, espesilly because it includes all software from all of the models of the Audigy, so you get a LOT of games. But, what is the difference between the PlatniumEX and the Platnuim?

I know that I am staying with my SBLive X-Gamer 5.1, it is a great card...no need to upgrade.

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--Daniel--