Audigy 2 craps, Asus Xonar DG 5.1 or Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit?

[RandomJ]

Hi, I'm looking to get a suggestion/recommendation for a new/replacement sound card.

My current sound card is a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2. It was a great sound card until it crapped out and started to pop/snap/crack like firecrackers. It's so bad and loud that I just keep my speaker system turned off so they don't get damaged.

I have an older PC and need a PCI sound card so these two sound cards are my choices.

Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card
Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit PCI Sound Card

Would anyone have a possible opinion/suggestion for me? It's a toss up for me and I'm not sure which to go with... I'm just looking to get the best one out of them and I don't know which it is.

Thanks

Setup:
Dell Dimension 8250
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.06GHz
1.50 GB RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Operating System
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Speaker System

 

[fireberd]

First, I really surprised you have Win 7 installed on the old 8250. I do a lot of support on the Dell forum and used to have one of these back in 2001. I've seen some older systems that users have installed Win 7 (or Vista on) but this is the oldest one I've seen.

I have an HT Omega "Striker 7.1" sound card installed. It is a PCI type and will work with the old PCI bus like is in the 8250. Newegg.com - HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

 

[RandomJ]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I'm surprised too that I'm able to run Win 7, but Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor said I could and I actually like the way it runs better than my previous Win XP.

Thanks for the suggestion. I forget if I came across that card or not when I was researching for PCI cards. I may have and scratched it off the list due to price and putting out the extra $50 needed from the others. I'll have to go back and take a second look at it and read the reviews to see if it would be worth the extra cost.

 

[fireberd]

One thing I forgot, Since Dell has proprietary and undocumented front panel connections, ANY sound card you install will not interface with the front panel. Unless you want to "hack" and modify by running your own cable and have connections for a front panel headphone and mic connections you will have to use the rear panel connections on the sound card. Dell has mostly gone away from the proprietary front panel connections on new systems but older Dell's are stuck with the proprietary and undocumented front panel connections.