linyanit

Dear Chris,<br /> <br /> Thank you for that excellent and comprehensive review. <br /> <br /> I wanted to go off on a tangent and address the entire PCI versus PCIe interface. Your computer pocket server has integrated graphics but the mac pro does have options for some high powered videocards. Does it have a fairly standard videocard? I would imagine it would unless you also use it for gaming.<br /> <br /> You found that the Slim (a PCI card) was not as good as the STX (a PCIe card). There are obvious differences that would change the quality of the sound. But the interface itself can be peculiar.<br /> <br /> I see that one of the readers above has my card, the Auzentech Forte 7.1 (a PCIe card). <br /> <br /> One issue I have found using this card is kind of peculiar to "gaming enthusiasts". I went from an nVidia GTX 285 videocard to a factory overclocked ati 5870 videocard.<br /> <br /> This caused all sorts of headaches with the Auzentech Forte 7.1 soundcard even though it is on a different IRQ than the videocard. I have consequently found that the PCIe videocards can increase the PCIe frequency (as I understand it) and this can irritate the audiocard. I also had to go into the bios and disable "HD Audio" even though it had been disabled in Windows Device Manager.<br /> <br /> People constructing a nice computer audio or audio/video setup will usually have a tame videocard (since it really is just needed for videogames) so the PCI and PCIe interface may not be important. But it may be an issue for people using high speed overclocked videocards. I also think that people who are adding on soundcards may want to consider a motherboard that does not have built-in audio.<br /> <br /> I think that when I am next in the market (one to two years) for a new soundcard that I will seriously consider a PCI version, assuming that there is no other new interface looming over the horizon.