Personally I wont be buying an XFI card for the next few months although Ill have them from time to time as I cycle through hardware ... a permenant purchase for me wont happen until say February or March. As for gaming perspectives, you wont be able to do all all much more with a XFI that you cant do with, say, a SBAudigy2ZS but do be aware that there *are* things you wont be able to do (simply due to the fact that the Audigy2 chip will get overwhelmed) i.e., enhance audio mode in Battlefield2