Rocketfish PCI (RF51SDCD) Sound Card

I was looking for a PCI card to replace/upgrade my on-board sound on my old computer, which is always connected to my TV, to 5.1 surround sound. I use this computer as home theater system to play online content, mostly music and videos. The card worked instantly with my Altec Lansing 5.1 surround sound speakers and improvement in sound was unmistakable. This card uses the creative chip but I found that this card was a lot better than entry level branded creative cards for a simple reason: Creative drivers are bloatwares frequently with no driver updates. The driver supplied with this card installed within minutes and had only the features I needed to play my multimedia.

CAUTION: If using XP, install driver from the CD supplied with the card. To avoid problems do not let Win XP install driver automatically.

Other thoughts: haven't got a chance to check the digital output

I wanted to try sending digital audio output from my PC (OS 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium) to my stereo through a Cambridge Audio DacMagic. Unfortunately, the PC motherboard did not have digital audio output. This very inexpensive PCI sound card installed easily, the driver autoloaded from Microsoft and the card's optical output provided excellent quality audio to the DAC, using lossless (ALAC) audio files. The sound quality from the computer's speakers was equivalent to the original on board audio output. I did not install any of the supplementary software.

I didn't expect much for the price I paid (less than $5), but I was quite surprised by the ease of installation in Win 7 (no driver problem at all), the ease of connection (instant color match to plugs), and the actual sound itself!

This card is definitely worth its weight! It gives me actual directionality in games (a MUST in 1st person shooters, for example) that allows me to get eaten much less often by monsters creeping up behind me or to the sides. My 5.1 speaker set (Logitech X530s) isn't at the top of the list anymore, but dang, you can't tell by listening! I can tell spatially what's what in almost all my games, esp the 1st person shooter ones. Both Fallout 3 and Hellgate London (my two current faves) play loud and well, and this card outperforms my last sound card as well as my onboard sound (ASUS A8N32 SLI deluxe mbd -- not cheap).

Plus, it has a crispness that is unexpectedly pleasant. Sound tracks to movies are suddenly much more clear and distinguishable, esp. soft dialog, which was once just LOST to me, is now quite clear and lucid.

I was about to swap my speakers for a different set because of the poor sound I was getting, but when the sound card came in, I decided to give my old speakers (the 5.1 setup) one last try before swapping them out. I'm glad I did. What a difference! And the card isn't even rated for Win 7! The darn thing plays like a big dog, it does! I'm very impressed with it.

Especially if you can get it dirt cheap, sniping, like I did, then you can snag one delightfully well-performing card on auction. Look for it as obo, as well, and bid well for them. I'd bid $15, but got them for $5. I would have been happy paying the $15, myself, but I took the gift horse at $5 and have appreciated the irony ever since.

So, bottom line, yeah, buy this card or this brand of card and you run a very small risk. Your chances of getting a sweet card for nearly nothing are high! I'm SO glad I took the risk and bid on it. In fact, I'm gonna go back and bid higher on a Rocketfish IDE HD external case now and see if the line of products is as good as the one product in the line I've tried. If so, Rocketfish might be my next favorite brand of component!

Have no fear about Rocketfish's sound cards -- they're quite good and the sound is delicious, in games (where sound of all kinds is critical) and out of games (where the delicacy of sound is the value we desire, and where the ability to recreate all kinds of sounds is vital). Can't go wrong, so far as I can tell.

At any price under $20, this is a huge value! I don't know what this card sells for in stores, but I paid less than $5 and feel like I stole it! It's that good.

Good luck bidding, and stay Ebay!

Jordan

I purchased this card as a cheap temporary quick fix when my on board sound started messing up. Just for some background I am a 30 year old male with a degree in Business Systems management, I have been repairing computers for over a decade. Got the card in the mail and opened the package and was surprised to see that this was actually just a re-branded creative card (sound blaster LIVE! i'm pretty sure)so i thought "cool this will be easy and its a creative so its gonna be an ok card for the 5 bucks i spent on it" I was VERY wrong. My current gaming rig is running Windows 7 Ultimate and from the moment I plugged the thing in I started having issues with it. Just plugging the card into the PCI slot the card itself made strange crackling noises as if it were about to snap in half at any moment. Then once i got the card in securely and checked to make sure it hadn't fracture in a million pieces I fired up my PC and inserted the included driver disk. And nadda. The setup came up and basically informed me that I was a dirty liar and that there was nothing plugged into my PC. At the moment my PC repair skills came out like a lion stalking game in the Savannah and i pounced on the Internets looking for drivers and fixes. My reference to the Savannah couldn't be more accurate because several hours later I had searched through what seemed like an endless expanse of nothingness with the occasional promise of a few drops of moisture to wet my lips on that just dissapointed me in the long run. Ive heard tales of adventurers that have gotten this card to work with XP but after 2.5 days I walked away from this card feeling disgusted and used. If you have Windows Xp it might be worth a shot If you have Windows 7 however, don't bother, there is ZERO support for this card ANYWHERE. Mine has now been put to good use as a piece in a sculpture I've been working on made from old unusable computer parts.

I had 4 other sound cards made by the the big 3 chip makers. This Rocketfish is the only one that eliminated the sound stutter my system had in 5.1 surround playback. I highly recommend it to others.