Recently I have been doing my XP gaming on a "sensible modern PC" - C2D 8500, 3GB DDR2, NVidia 645. Definitely powerful enough for games that prefer XP but still very cheap. It has "Realtek HD Audio" via an "ALC888". I'm not really sure what Realtek HD Audio actually is as a few different 'chips' seem to call themselves RHDA and I've never once had an issue with just downloading RHDA drivers from Realtek's website and it working just fine.

Anyway I was going to use a SB Live for some EAX goodness but that is in use in my W98/DOS PC. So I stuck with the built in RHDA as I am not an audiophile at all (for games!), but I have been impressed by the Realtek HD Audio's ability to do EAX 2 (For instance in Call of Duty 1). It sounded pleasantly subtle, not overwhelimg with all sound effects clear and crisp and a slight reverb heard fading away if I pause the game. This came as a surprise to me after watching some of Phil's videos about non SB cards doing EAX didn't do it very well, and RHDA is just cheap integrated sound!

I haven't tried A3D (can anyone suggest a game demo that show cases it well) but apparently it supports EAX1+2 and A3D. Is EAX 3 and 4 the 'big deal' I am missing out on?

Does anyone else forgo sound cards and just use realtek hd audio? I suppose PCI audigy cards are cheap enough for it to be a non-issue really...