Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1

Anyways, the sound card is a great card, but really leaves "original" Live card owners at a crossroad. To me, the upgrade is not worth the cost. If need be I will wait until the IR Live Drive and remote combo are available as a separate purchase or just go and pick up a remote unit (Such as Turtle Beach's which can be had for about 50 bucks) and save myself a drive bay. If you are coming from an older card in need of an upgrade, then by all means, pick this card up, or either of it's less-expensive brothers, the X-Gamer or the MP3+ 5.1. Also, the digital output didn't do anything for me as my Klipsch are analog, so keep that in mind as well if you are still contemplating this as your sound solution, as the price of the original Live Platinum card has dropped down considerably and may be a better deal for you. The bottom line is this, the Live Platinum 5.1 is not all that much different than the good ole regular Live Platinum. There are a couple of differences in the digital decoding onboard and the IR Live Drive, but also at a cost. Whether or not the cost is worth it to you is not my call, but the card is packed with features and includes just about anything you could want, except that paycheck you just deposited. I give it a 8 because of the cost and comparison against the rest of the field, mainly the original Platinum and the fact that the non-Platinum 5.1 versions run about half the cost.