This Creative Audigy 1 pci card was £49- from a local computer fair, it is the oem version (no packaging). The quality of the card is amazing to say the least, it is dolby digital compliant - I watched Aliens 2 on a weekend with it; the next day a rather cheesed off neighbour complained she had heard every word and sound effect from the film and it had robbed her of a good nights sleep!. Being a creative card, there is no shortage of driver up dates or support. If you like music there are lots of different vocal and audio effects to play with (pitch bend etc). Installing the card with windows XP was easy, the card was instantly recognised and the drivers were installed hassle free. Minidisc software was included and this really is fantastic, easy to use to the point of being fool proof. There is a firewire port included, faster than USB1 but slower than USB2, handy for external equipment. My card did not come with the gold plated connectors, in all honesty I don't think this was a major issue, the quality is second to none regardless. Gaming is good with the card, if you have a 5 speaker setup; the sound effects are totally enviroment realistic! I am actually surprised by how much I got for the money I paid, it is at least 50% better than my last card (Creative 1024 live) and I paid £90 or so for that!

If you have a motherboard with an AC97 chip on board or a cheaper sound card, the difference is ground breaking. Two words to sum up this product.. Quality..Value.