New sound card.
 

I figured this would be the best place to ask, so, I'm looking to purchase a new sound card, but I'm not quire sure what to look for. My current one is old (around 7 years old), and has been giving me problems for years, so I kind of need to replace it. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? I'm not really interested in spending more than $140.

I know there will be people in here hating on Creative. Their drivers are half-ass, though I've never had a problem with them. Creative dropped support for the Audigy series under Windows Vista, so the X-FI series is really your only option there. Depending on what features you want, this card may do what you want:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...reative%20Labs

M-Audio cards don't have Vista drivers, but are still great for XP.

AuzenTech is the new kid on the block with excellent feature-sets and excellent drivers. I'd definitely recommend their cards.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=AuzenTech

or (this is out of your price range):

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=AuzenTech

The AuzenTech sound cards sound nice. My only problem with buying a non-Creative sound card, though, is they most likely will lack the ability to load sound fonts.

Also, I don't use Windows Vista, and have no plans on switching to Vista, so lack of Vista support doesn't bother me.

The Chaintech AV-710 is a very good deal at about $22. There is also an open box one on Newegg for $14.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829120103 (this is not the open box one)

If you do some reading about it, you will not be able to find a better card for the money.

This sounds good. I'm really cheap, so this seems like a good alternative.

Edit: Although, this worries me: "Every once in a while the card will output a loud and unceasing tone from bootup. A reboot is required to hault the tone."

That has never happened to me, and I have now owned 3 AV-710's, but YMMV of course.

I have the Audiophile 192.

It's a pretty cool card if you want to set up a balanced connection with studio monitors easily.

All my soundcards have always been Creative.

Not sure about how much cash you have, or your spending priorities, but...

If your old sound card is seven years old, I guess your motherboard is at least that old. Maybe you want to look into a new and faster system, with integrated sound?