Again a vote for M AUdio at the budget end. The 2496 is another M Audio card.

Before you buy you need to think of several things.

Will you be using Win 7 64 bit or not, If so you need to check the drivers are available in 64 bit.
64 bit has many advantages RAM wise and is the future, but some smaller companies, and older legacy models do not support it.

Do you need MIDI inputs? Many gaming cards do not have this, If you have not got MIDI on a card you can get USB to MIDI leads (which can provide extra inputs).

How many Audio and line inputs do you need. For instance if you play guitar and sing and you want to record in stereo for the guitar then thats already three MIc inputs - more than most budget cards have. Line inputs dont wokr well for microphones.

Latency is of course key. Dont buy a gaming card and expect it to work (though some would) - go for a musicians card.


Win 11 64, Asus Rog Strix z390 mobo, 64 gig RAM, 8700k