heh, my Hercules Gametheater XP is still going strong in my pc. based on the Chrystal CS4630. no drop in fps in any games what so ever. and it hasnt had a driver update in.. ages. fps drops and stutters? only time i seen that is with ACPI based installs, once Standard Pc w/APM is set on install no stutter what so ever.. wish i could say that about Creative cards. EAX? its never impressed me. in fact, thats also a prime source for slow downs, lockups and crashes. but, to each their own, everyone likes what they like, and as long as it works for you.. use it:)

thats a two way street, maybe they cant understand why you like creative so much.