Creative Audigy LS, worth a buy?

[Clements]

I have seen a Creative Audigy LS for a very cheap price, and I was wondering if it is worth it, about £18 or so. I currently own onboard sound which is some AC97 codec which supports 5.1 speakers, but saps my CPU and isn't all that great in quality. The best thing about it is that the drivers always work well.

The cheapest Audigy 2 is far too expensive (more than three times the price) since I don't own all those speakers, I wouldn't pay that much for a sound card.

So, would anyone recommend this Audigy baring in mind that I'm not really an audio freak? Also, are the drivers any good with this card (I've heard only bad stuff), and will the boost in FPS in games be noticable over onboard etc? It seems like a fair deal to me.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Yes, it can boost FPS in games, chiefly with emulation.

BTW, I did noticed that Jnes has a speed problem with onboard audio.

Jnes was slow with 2xSAI and onboard audio while Jnes was still faster even with 2xSAI when a SoundBlaster Audio PCI 128 sound card was installed.

 

[PsyMan]

I own the same mobo as Clements and my previous mobo had an audio chipset with the same codec. It doesn't have as good quality as my SB live 1024 but the drivers are a little better. I personally prefer using SB live and disabling onboard audio completely in order to maximize performance and use less system recources.
Since Creative's drivers are quite buggy there is a possibility of compatibility problems with very few games but the sound quality and the option to use 3rd party drivers seem enough to make you spend 18£

 

[Clements]

I read a review, and it said basically it was good value. The cons of the card were no hardware EAX support (but can support EAX 3.0 in software mode) and lack of EAX 4.0 (not that I use much of the limited EAX I can use now). All in all, spec-wise this is more than I'll need for a while, and a major step up from onboard which doesn't really stack up to it at all.

The driver issues are a little worrying though, so hopefully creative drivers will hold up if I get hold of the card in the near future. If not, I'll probably snap up some 3rd party drivers if needed. For 18 quid, I thought that was very reasonable to pick up with my regular PC upgrade

 

[AlphaWolf]

If you are looking for digital sound, ditch creative. (you'll save money and have better sound quality)

 

[smcd]

I'm satisfied with my SB Live! 5.1, cheap and it's all I need ;-)

 

[Clements]

As it so happens, they also sell a Sound Blaster live Digital 1024 for only £9, which is also a bargin - practically pocket change and a step up from on-board, but it can't hurt to buy the Audigy for the extra £10, I think. I think I'll be happy with a Creative soundcard.

Now if only the newer cards were this cheap!