I have decided to get this card as it the cheapest I could find that has an optical input (to connect my HD-DVD player).
 
Now I have been reading about various horror stories, incompatibilities and crippled functionalities about this card and Vista 64Bit
 
Can you guys please tell me what I should look out for with this card and Vista 64Bit, and what I can do to minimize all those issues.
 
I also read about modified drivers by a Daniel_K that takes care of these issues.
 
Or if this card is not worth it any other card that has an optical input and that is in the same price point as the Creative.
 
So any advise and input will be appreciated.
 
Thanks

I would not recomend the extream audio for any OS.
It is an overpriced, reboxed Audigy SE and nothing more.

I found an OEM version for $40 at a local retailer, that's why I want to get it. It's cheap and can take an Optical Input.

Hmm.. I don't know what version you want, but the models of X-FI Xtreme Audio I see don't have any Optical output at all!! Unless you mean Spdif?
 
I got a brand new one sitting in it's box on my desk at home, never got to really use it, wouldn't work under Vista without giving unmeasurable amounts of RDC errors, and also the sound was distorted and echoing like hell.
 
Willing to let it go for 20$ plus shipping, been used for a "hellishly" long 15 minutes...  Brand new in box  
 
Would stay away to be honest.
 
My 2 cents
 
Edit: Looks like the PCI-e models have Optical in/out....

I have the X-Fi (Fatal1ty Pro) and Vista 64.  As far as I can tell it works...GREAT.  They've even finally ported the nice software interface over to Vista 64 (something you used to only be able to get from the drivers CD to XP32).  The sound is great, digital IO works, ...it actually just works...finally.

I noticed Creative actually have drivers that have been posted this month with an ALchemy update as well.
 
Any one else have this card with Vista 64 Bit ? If how is your experience ?

I have the X-Fi (Fatal1ty Pro) running on VISTAx64. Its working ok for me.  
 
one thing i have not done is install any updates for the card.  
 
 

I have an AuzenTech Prelude 7.1, which uses the X-Fi chip, running on 64 bit Vista.  Works great, and sounds amazing.

I use a Fatal1ty Platinum with the front panel and have had no problems whatsoever. Most people that I've seen that experience problems are using cheaper models of the X-Fi card which were developed for XP and as someone else said, were little more than upgraded Audigies. It shouldn't be expected that the old, cheap cards would work under Vista, any more than you would expect a Creative card from the days of Windows 2.1 to work on a XP machine. The Audigy was developed back in the days of Win98, after all, and there's only so much that can be reasonably expected of such an old design.

That's great and all about the X-Fi cards but you seem to be forgetting that the card he is looking at dose not have the EMU20K1 chip, instead it uses the CA0106 chip.  This is supposed to be the same chip as in the Audigy 2 SE card.
 
 
But, I did just check and the drivers were updated on April 2nd.
With that in mind, I would think it should be working now.

As far as this card is concerned in being a rebranded Audigy 2 with software X-Fi processing am I going to have that much difference.  
 
I used to own a Audigy Platinum and I absolutely loved that card.  
 
Now the reason I am getting this card is so that I can connect the TOSLINK optical from my HD-DVD to the sound card and pipe the sound through my speakers.  
 
Will this sound card be able to handle the 5.1 audio sent through the DVD player ?
 

Any one of any other card that can take an optical in.

The Asus Xonar can but that may be more than you're interested in spending (it is a top notch card though) good job again Asus!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6829132006
Look up the reviews. recommended over any SB card.

 
I have the ASUS card in one computer and a Creative X-Fi Platinum in another computer and I prefer Creative's X-Fi Platinum any day of the week. Creative also makes teh Elite Pro which is even better yet. You need to be careful when saying people recommend a particular card over "any Creative card", as Creative makes a large variety of cards.

Don't really have anything to say about any sound card, specifically, but sound is quite subjective.  Regarding audio products, there are two different approaches - one, reproduce sound faithfully; two, psychoacoustics (enhance the bass, blah blah blah).  Most audiophiles (whatever that means) prefer the former; companies like Creative and Bose take the latter approach, at least for the consumer market.
 
For enjoying great sound, neither approach is necessarily correct or better than the other.  The better approach is the one you prefer... so if possible, find a way to listen to these sound cards on good speakers before you buy.  Tinker with the drivers and speakers.  Test various cards with different speakers and headphones.  If using higher-end headphones, use a headphone amp.  If you're gonna spend some of your hard-earned cash on a product you'll be using for a long time to come, make sure you made the best possible purchase.  Then again, going that far might be too extreme for most people (but hey, if that's too extreme, maybe the sound card you're buying is more than you'll need?)
 
Whatever the case may be, I hope you'll be happy with your purchase.  At least the driver situation with Creative cards and Vista has been somewhat resolved now thanks to... external pressures on Creative.

 
Nicely put, well done.  
 
I'll just say I love my 3 X-Fi's and my daughter and wife love them too (they each have one).  Coupled with reasonable speakers they've done a tremendous job in producing great sound.

computertech82 - Thanks for that recommendation, but as I mentioned earlier I am looking for one with an optical input.
 
ahmshaegar - Yeah I feel pretty much the same way too, since I am not an Audiophile (not a hardcore one), any good sound card is good enough for me. Also for this need I need some thing cheap as well, I will be buying a better sound card soon, but for now, I need some thing that I can use to take audio from my DVD player, which has an Optical TOSLINK out.