I installed the Thunderbolt on my Crosshair Formula V and soon realized that I had to either remove the Thunderbolt or one of my ATi oops I mean AMD Crossfired Graphics card as after running a game I checked the temp which was 220F. So I removed the Graphics card so I could play w/ my new card.

The sound was great and a huge upgrade over my old Audigy 2 ZS which was running a homemade driver to work in Win7 since Creative doesn't support their products.

I soon realized that the Thunderbolt isn't amplified at the rear Line Out plug and only amped at the Front Headphone Out. I soon felt good that I ordered a CoolerMaster Scout Sniper case when I ordered my Crosshair V since my old Antec 900's FP Headphone Connectors were broken since the day I bought it. So that would have made this Thunderbolt unusable.

Well all worked well I thought until I jumped into iRacing to run a 40 lap Legends race. Warmups ran smooth, and all was well until the race started and once I keyed the mic for well wishes everyone started screaming to not key my mic again. I got "You sound like you're under water" or "That thing is squelling bad". After sitting quiet through the race I checked Windows' Recording Devices and noticed that the bars were peg'd w/ the Mic Level set at 50 and the headset hung up on the stand. I lowered the level to 2 before the bars dropped.

I ran another race and all was well during Warm Ups but once the Race started I got the same issues. In iRacing when you run WarmUps you have to exit for a second to load the Race. This leads me to believe that the issue is with Drivers vs the Card itself. I had the same issue w/ my Audigy 2 ZS and TeamFortress 2. The mic worked well until map change, or team change.

I'm thinking about using another Xonar model's driver if I only knew which Xonar card this one is based off of. I wonder if I could use a C-Media driver also?

I had an issue with the Killer NIC too. I was able to run a Warmup but then during the race the Sim would time out and I wasn't able to rejoin the race until I switched to the O/B Intel NIC. I later updated the driver using Bigfoot's Killer E2100 Driver which also flashed the firmware. I removed all the GameFirst software and since haven't had that issue but once. I'm actually using the Intel NIC because I can't afford to lose 100+ iRating because of a crappy NIC. That would take 3-6 Clean Races to earn back. In other words ... The card cost me something in a matter of seconds that will take hours to earn back.

Will ASUS please resolve the issues with this card? Everyone is having the same issue and the card's only function that works is the FP Headphone Amp. If you don't have a FP for headphones you're not even able to have that function.

It sucks to pay over a $100 premium for a Thunderbolt card that you can't use. I could have just used the O/B NIC (which I'm actually forced to use now) and used the $100+ to buy a HT-Omega C-Media based soundcard w/ Headphone Amp that actually works ... or I could have bought a Tube Headphone Amp that would make these Grados sing.

I use Plantronics for gaming, and I've used both Gamecom and smaller backup Plantronics and have same issues with both.

I called ASUS for help since I didn't get the USB cable in my box and I was passed around, and given the run around for about 3 hours and I ended up speaking to a woman in Accounting 4 times before she finally patched me through to a man that was simply amazing. This guy (I forgot his name) was very knowledgable, got my cable ordered instantly and actually owned the Rampage III w/ Thunderbolt himself so he knew what I was talking about unlike all the other 15 people I got passed around to. I'm sure this guy is underpaid and over worked but he deserves a raise because if it wasn't for him I would start looking for another brand of Motherboards and Components to buy from because I'm getting the feeling that ASUS is getting a big head and forgetting what got them where they are.

I've used ASUS for about 18 years now and I would be sad to leave them but it may happen if they don't shape up. I told my Uncle to buy an ASUS about a year and a half ago because I live about 200 miles from him now and I can't just drive over and help him out if he has an issue. He bought it in October of 10 but didn't hook it up until Feb of 11. He had an issue in Jan of 12 and called ASUS and they wouldn't send him a Harddrive or Recovery Discs. I can understand he was out of warranty but by only 2 months. He complained about the run around then and I thought he was just saying that because they wouldn't help him but I now see he was telling the truth. I've only had 1 problem with 2 Motherboards with them in the past and they resolved the issues with those boards quickly even tho the boards were struck by lightning. They even allowed me to take my pick of Motherboards instead of just sending me whatever they had. I paid $149 for a AV8 32x SLi board and they sent me a P6T which was a $349 board at the time. They even paid the shipping. This is sad to think that ASUS is going down hill after being on top of the hill alone for so many wonderful years. I give them credit ... They still hire Americans and it's nice to speak to someone who speaks your languge when you need help.

Well sorry to get on a rant but it just makes me sad to see this company turn their backs on their Customers. I've had an issue with a Logitech product lately and they impressed me with their Customer Support and have won a Customer for Life if they keep it up. I've always bought Logitech products and never had an issue but I now know if I have anymore in the future I'm going to be in good hands.