Hardware recommendation: what hardware to buy for my new FreeBSD desktop?

[DrJ]

Originally Posted by Broodjegehaktmetmayo

I'm a bit of an audio freak

Me too. However, Creative cards are more for gamers; audio lovers typically go for M-Audio or something like that. I don't think you will hear much difference if you use a "typical" computer speaker. Now if you take a digital output from the sound card and connect to a decent stereo, that's different.

FWIW, I still use the old Quad 57 electrostatic loudspeakers. Quirky as hell, and very directional, but they still sound great.