My computer

M5A97

970A-D3

Read the reviews. I'm going to take it you know how much you want to spend and what features you want already. Personally I would choose the Asus for the extra fan 4 pin fan connectors, kinda wish the SATA connectors were at a right angle though.

Also this thread may be of use to you

I have many ASUS products and they've served me well over the years. There seems to be a lot of conflicting reviews for the M5A97, which might mean it's a good idea to wait a while or purchase a different MB.

If you're building one from scratch I suggest getting the Asus M4A88 Micro ATX since it's cheaper and got better reviews while still retaining most of the functions as the M5A97. Add in a Phenom II quad core and you should be set for at least the next four years.

Details: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131657

Go with Creative Labs.

I need to contradict the two above me in saying that just because Creative holds the largest market share in sound cards does not make it a better choice automatically.

What do you mean Tegumi?

Frankly nowadays a discrete sound-card is a waste of money. For general purpose uses, even on-board chip-sets are fine. With the advent of softsynths you don't even need one if you're working with MIDI.

If you're worried about sound quality you'll need a proper amp anyway and all modern devices support at least SPDIF if not HDMI... at which point the DA (digital-to-analog) capabilities of the sound-card (whether discrete or integrated) are moot since you're sending a digital signal to your amp what's DA capabilities are bound to be better than anything you can cram into a PC.

I was rather verbose. Perhaps you need work on your reading comprehension?

Creative is a good company that releases well made products at a fairly cheap price. I've never had to replace one of their sound cards. This is why I recommended them; not because they hold a large market share.

You were telling him to choose the ASUS Xonar by denouncing Creative Studio. I was just thinking that a person like Tegumi would never make fallacious arguments.

You also assumed that both Punt and I chose Creative because of its market share, which would be silly.

News to me. I've had problems with Creative drivers, and they used to charge quite a bit because they had *very* little competition.



I'm not sure that's precisely what I said. Also, how would it be a fallacious argument?

Why would it be silly? I observe people doing it all the time. I haven't seen many of Punt's posts, and you yourself haven't exactly demonstrated the soundest judgement or intelligence in the past -- or present, for that matter.

You support ASUS Xonar without making any points on its features and performance over Creative Labs. Your only argument for choosing ASUS is that Creative Labs has a larger market share.

Mentioning that you had problems with Creative Labs drivers before in your first post would make have been a wiser option.



It's silly because I have not seen people choosing one company's products/services over another company's just because of market share all the time. Let's not be too pretentious.




I know you don't like me Tegumi, and that's alright with me. Sorry you never thought I was smart.

Again, I totally said that. You can quote me on it.



But you have observed it. So you can understand my point.



As far as I can tell, the feeling was mutual. Also, I never said I didn't like you, I merely call things as I see them. If someone acts dumb, I tell them they are. This doesn't go over terribly well with most people.

If you're building the PC for gaming, don't even bother getting a sound card. Instead, grab a high quality USB Headset. It'll produce fantastic sound and you save some money.

Plus, since... hell... 02, sound cards have been largely irrelevant. It's hard to even find good ones anymore.

I was not aware of the latter, the prices of my purchases have always been well below the MSRP. I've never had a problem with their drivers myself, though I'm sure they do have issues with them from time to time, most companies do. Have you had problems with more than one of their products?

Oh yeah, troubleshooting nightmare. One wasn't even reporting its hardware instance ID so we had to guesstimate.

Both those motherboards are essentially the same thing.

Personally, I'd pick the MSI. They've been putting out really high quality motherboards and the OC Genie could be useful, down the line.