PCI port + Sound card

Hi,

In your opinion, is the PCI (not PCI-Express) there for quite a long time (like 4-5 years)?

Here's why my question:
The onboard sound of my motherboard (M2N-E SLI) is shit. So I put an old Sound Blaster Live! Value.
Currently, I use the Sound Blaster for the analog outputs (stereo and quadraphonic game) and the onboard SPDIF output for movies (passthrough).

The Sound Blaster is old and the drivers for Win7 are so-so. The only one that works is the kXdriver but it cracked at times and there is almost no hardware acceleration.

So, the reason of my question: There is this sound card on sale:

NCIX.com - Buy AuzenTech X-PLOSION Cinema 7.1 Sound Card DTS Connect Dolby Digital Live Sound Card PCI 32BIT - AZT-XPCINE In Canada.

For 59.99 C$ (49.99 C$ after mail-in rebate), and I wondered if I could use it again when I'll change my computer (perhaps by 3-4 years maybe).

And also, if it's worth. My speakers are Altec Lansing ADA885 with AC3 decoder so the Dolby Digital Live would be pleased because the ADA885 have the surround phase-shifted when using an analog signal, which cancels the bass (problem solved with the Sound Blaster cards ).

3-4 years is a "lifetime" in computers. If something lasts that long it's usually past it's supported life.

Whether PCI will go away completely on new technology in 3 - 4 years? There are some new Dell model desktops that only have PCIe now however there will probably be some motherboards around that will still have PCI.

That's what I wanted to know. And I know that 3-4 years is a lifetime, but PCI seems to don't want to leave (as it's here since... 15 years!?) and there's still a lot of hardware for it.

I think I'll wait a bit and pick a PCI-E card if the price could drop a bit...

Jetson said:

That's what I wanted to know. And I know that 3-4 years is a lifetime, but PCI seems to don't want to leave (as it's here since... 15 years!?) and there's still a lot of hardware for it.

I think I'll wait a bit and pick a PCI-E card if the price could drop a bit...

I purchased a Gigabyte P35-S3G specifically because it has 4 PCI slots in combination with PCIe graphics and a single small PCIe slot. So far I've run an M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 and an RME 8 in/out PCI audio card in Win7 without problems. Both cards bypass the extra layer of audio cr@p that Windows 7 has added, I don't know how they would function as Windows based audio. I just noticed that Win7 contains native support for the M-Audio card... so it's probably supported.

The audio path in WinXP was simple and effective, Win7 has added extra layers of OS on top of the audio system and from all the posts on this board. it's causing problems. Hopefully one or two things will happen, the audio drivers will mature and/or Win7 SP1 will come along and clean things up.

Ap