Yeah, the Tweak Guides are great. Other than cleaning up your OS, the author offers lots of good advice on how to optimize your system, speed up boot times and make your computer generally faster and more responsive.

I think that PC performance can really go downhill if you don't take care of it every once in a while.

Right now I'm sorting through video cards to buy. I want a 8800 GTX and I came across Leadtek's Winfast Geforce PX8800 GTX. I know that Leadtek is a good producer for Nvidia cards but what does that PX mean? I'm somehow not getting a kind of downgraded version of 8800 GTX, am I?

And besides, is there a real difference between the producers? I mean, is there a performance difference between, for example, XFX 8800 GTX and Winfast 8800 GTX?

I think the OP didnt ask ''Shall i get Vista or XP'' so hope you dont start with this because everyone will start talking BS when it comes to such arguments. SearchMaster

Yes, exactly. I'm going to get Vista and I'm going to get a sound card. I'm just asking which one I should. Obviously Creative causes problems so I'll let that one pass. Auzentech Prelude seems to be a good option, but is is fully compatible with Vista? And finally, do I still get EAX if I don't have 5.1 speakers (4.1 most likely)?

Thanks.

Okay, but are the Auzentech drivers compatible with Vista? I hope they don't cause problems. And if I get a problematic brand like Creative do I lose all quality sound, worse than onboard audio, or do I just lose a few features? If that is the case, perhaps Creative will in future cave in to pressure and eventually release proper drivers for Vista. But I still think what they're doing is weird and unethical.

Other than that, I have a last question: What kind of speakers should I get if I buy a good sound card? Are 4.1 enough?

Thanks.