Sound Card Help

I recently had problems with my Dell XPS Gen 3 computer where it was diagnosed that my sound card had a problem (it didn't, Dell just said it did.) They sent me a new sound card under warranty and the new card that I recieved is a Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity sound card. The original sound card in my computer is a Sound Blaster Audigy 2. Which card is better?
Physical Specs of card:
X-Fi
-4 Audio output ports
-1 Game port
-Heatsync
http://hardware.gotfrag.com/files/upload/slapnuts_xfi_scard.jpg

Audigy 2
-6 Audio output ports
-Firewire
-No heatsync
http://www.bolli.us/blog/807875.jpg
Notice the less internal inputs on the X-Fi card compared to the Audigy 2

 

Either of them will be fine. If you edit music, the X-Fi will be awesome. If you just use your PC for games, multimedia etc. you probably won't notice the difference. The fewer ports on the Audigy mean that unless you use an Optical connector for your audio out, you'll have to only use 5.1 if you attach a microphone, but very few people have 7.1 speakers anyway.

 

The X-Fi has less inputs, not the Augidy. Which would you keep if you had a choice?

 

Sorry, that's what I meant. If I had a choice, I'd sell the X-Fi and keep the Audigy 2. The X-Fi is worth a lot more, and I'd hardly notice the difference between the two.

 

I gotta send one back to Dell so it would be better to keep the X-Fi and send the Audigy back to Dell? Why does the Audigy have more inputs?

 

Probably because it's an older card and more is done with optical on X-Fi cards. Just be advised that Dell may want the X-Fi back if it's what they sent you over replacements.

 

I think I'll keep the X-Fi because in their warranty it states that when a part breaks they will send the same or better card and as you say, the X-Fi is better. My computer also loads faster with the X-Fi inside, would you know why?

 

Better drivers perhaps... the Audigy 2 is quite old now, they've had plenty of time to refine them.

 

Unrelated question but I get a BSOD occasionally when I leave my computer idle and when it reboots it says it was caused by a device driver. Any way I can pinpoint the driver and fix it? Also, how would I check my RAM? I use memtest 86 but how many passes should I let it do? Should I do each stick individually or all together? I have 2x512MB and 2x1GB.