i think the audigy 2 is a good card. i'm thinkin of getting it. when i crank all audio options to the max now with my live 24bit, i can hear it struggling in games. i get popping and clicks sometimes. new games got great sounding music and effects. it takes a strong sound processor to play all them together in high quality. i upgraded from onboard sound to my live 24bit. i was having alot of clicking and popping with my onboard sound. the live was a good improvement over onboard. audigy 2 or audigy 2 ZS would be better. more powerful sound processor with low latency. should improve gaming performance some...