I like Echo. I have a Layla 3G, Audiofire8, Original MIA, and a couple of Indigo DJ's.

The analog performance is tops and the drivers rock solid. I recently bought and returned a Presonus Inspire and an Alesis IO14 due to buggy firewire performance and got the Audiofire8. It's firewire performance has been completely stable.

Echo wrote their own 1394 driver rather than depend on Windows' which has lots of problems. Just search the MS knowledge base for all of the 1394 hotfixes.

I know a few studio engineers that use the M-Audio Firewire devices for their personnel setups, not the studios (I think they also may be usb). Nice portable units, good quality. Mac & Windows (xp/vista)

The last I checked M-Audio did not have all their pci cards drivers written for Vista yet, so if you go with one check out the compatibility charts.
I use a M-Audio 24/96 Audiophile (pci) for XP & Linux, great qualtiy. I don't think they wrote Vista drivers yet. M-Audio usually have very low lacency, meaning they perform fast a/d d/a conversions on the fly.

M-Audio does have Vista drivers. They were released about a month ago.

Which audio card to get depends on what you want to do. For simple monitoring of audio while editing, I'd stick with the SoundBlaster. It sounds decent and reduces the load on your CPU compared to a MOBO's built-in audio. During editing, the audio card's quality only affects what you hear through your speakers, and has no effect on the quality of your rendered output.

If you want to record audio from an external source, that's a different matter. Right now I'm using an external mixer along with my SB card, but am planning on replacing them both and with the E-MU 0404 USB interface. It has great reviews, XLR inputs, very good mic pre-amps, and a built-in soft limiter. Price is $150 at Musician's friend. E-MU is owned by Creative, btw.

Link: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/EMu-0404-USB-2.0-Recording-Interface?sku=242516

Video card: according to Nvidia, the 8600 is actually better at HD video, though no explanation why. The 8800 certainly has better 3D performance.

I happen to use Pro Tools with a Digi001 interface (sound card, breakout box) before I started working with Vegas, and it works great. Audio Ins and Outs and it feeds into a studio power amp into Alesis monitors so it works out great.

I think a couple of those M-Audio firewire units are very similar in functionality. It's nice to have a couple XLR microphone preamps on board for overdubbing audio dialogue or whatever else.

Thanks for all the suggestions. When I checked on the M-Audio site it looks like there are no Vista drivers for the Revolution 7.1, so that's out. I'm still looking at the Delta44 and the 2296, which there are Vista drivers. I really don't see much difference from the specs, so I don't think it really matters. On review sites, both cards seem okay with the 2296 getting more positive comments. The Sonata III case has a mic input on the front of the tower, but I don't think that will work with the sound card. I would still have to plug the Rhode mic into the back to access the sound card. I think the front mic input may just hook up to the integrated sound. Is that right, or am I missing something about how the sound card works with the case it's in?

> I would still have to plug the Rhode mic into the back to access the sound card. I think the front mic input may just hook up to the integrated sound. Is that right, or am I missing something about how the sound card works with the case it's in?

Yes, that's right, the front access is only for the integrated sound chip. Sound cards don't work with the case they are in; they have their own inputs and outputs and you will not get case integration.

Speaking of inputs and outputs, you need to consider how a new audio card is going to fit with what you already have.

> I have had SoundBlaster cards in the past because that's what came with the computers... I have a Rhode Stereo Video Mic... I have Logitech 5.1 speakers on my current computer

All three of those devices have 1/8" mini-jacks. This is a consumer format plug and everything plugs nicely into each other. The M-Audio 2496 has RCA inputs and outputs. That means you won't be plugging your Rode mic or speakers into it at all. Likewise the Delta-44 has 1/4" Phone plugs which don't match your mic or speakers either. These audio devices are made to be used with a mixing console if you want to use a microphone because they don't have a mic preamp (just line-inputs). You might consider picking up a little mixer to use with them but mixers don't have mini-jacks either so you need to make sure your new audio device matches your new speakers and, at a minimum, will need a preamp and adapter for the rodes mic.

You didn't say what your budget is but consider getting an external firewire audio device like the M-Audio Firewire Solo or Firewire-410 or the Echo Audiofire 4 or Gina 3G or any of the other devices that come with mic preamps and phantom power so that when you upgrade to a nice condenser mic you will be able to continue using the same audio interface. It's an investment that you will move to your new PC and not have to buy again.

> I'm looking at the Klipsch GMX A-2.1 speakers. I know they're not surround sound, but most of my editing is stereo anyway.

The Klipsch speakers will color your sound and are not recommended for audio work. They also probably have mini-jacks and not RCA or phone plugs (although you can always get an adapter, the native connections give you a clue that they were meant to be used with consumer gear). These speakers are for listening to DVD's and will exaggerate the sound to make movies and MP3's sound better. You want speakers that will give you an accurate representation of your audio for editing.

For the same price as the Klipsch you can get the M-Audio Studiophile DX4 speakers which are reference monitors with both RCA and 1/4" Phone inputs. They will work with either the M-Audio 2496 or Delta-44, and any of the firewire audio devices in mentioned.

> As for video, has anyone used XFX cards? I'm looking at the XFX Geforce 8800GT, 512Mb card

Think about the future. Will you be working with HD? Do you eventually plan to get a Blu-ray burner and watch movies on your PC? If yes, then get a card that is HDCP certified. The nVidia 8600GT line has a few that are and this will allow you access to digital HD from your player to your computer screen. Another thing to consider is the fan noise of the more powerful cards. I've got an ASUS Geforce 8600GT SILENT/HTDP/256M (HDCP Ready). No fan means no noise so my PC is very quiet for recording audio.

~jr