Windows 7: PCI vs PCI-E for sound card bus.

Hi soundphiles!
looking to add a dedicated soundcard to my rig. last was an audigy 2 gold edition pci, now I'm thinking about a PCI-E Xi-fi or something, but apart from extra bandwidth on PCI-E what other advantages are there over a cheaper PCI?
Antz

Nothing. In most cases you won't really need PCI-E for audio...at most a 1X slot.

my mother board is very basic and the on board is pretty rotten, so defiantly going for the dedicated sound card, just wondering what to go for and if PCI-E offers anything worth the extra price really
Antz

Many of the newer sound cards are PCIe as PCIe is replacing PCI as the expansion "standard". Many new motherboards no longer have PCI slots or the ones that do use a "bridge" to get PCI which means it isn't really PCI and some PCI cards will not work (also many new PC's do not have PCI slots).

To "future proof" (e.g. if you want to use the sound card in a new PC sometime) go for the PCIe if you have a PCIe slot in your PC.

I have a new PC, that was built for my recording studio. I use the built in RealTek for "PC sound" (but not recording) and its OK. I too have a Gigabyte motherboard (Z77X UD5H) and Gigabyte provided a software enhancement to the RealTek - Creative Audigy Advanced MotherBoard which provides many of the extras that Creative supplies with a SoundBlaster sound card. I can't hear any difference between this combination and the SoundBlaster Xfi I once had in the old PC.