Manufactured in a nice blue PCB, this card is not to bad looking. It wont stick out in your rig like and old ASUS motherboard, the brown type!

This card is the OEM, so no heatsink either, just a nice sticker to keep the heat it! Interestingly, when looking for information on this card on the Creative Labs site, the closest I could get was the Gamer edition.

The card is similar, but not exactly the same.

(Click to enlarge)
 

The XF-i on the left and Audigy on the right

You can see at this point there is no Firewire port on the card. Not really a major issue these days as most motherboards either have one onboard, or as a bracket of some sort.

Ok then, a standard little card with a low footprint on your system. Part of the idea for me is that very point. Physically halfway between onboard and the big old Audigy.

Next, the test system and games.