No bashing, i`m using the 1616m PCIe in my actual setup. I´m very satisfied with the sound quality and the patchmix possibilities, but the driver support lacks. And yes, for the money you can`t get wrong (used 1616m PCIe here in Germany ca. 250 €) - but only if it really works in your concrete system.
Another website about EMU products: http://www.productionforu..com/viewforum.php?f=114

Yeah, I'm not saying that 1616m is bad, cause it works and sounds great, but working on an eggshells during creative process is f*** . Tataly. Sand, does it have BSODs under win 8 with the newest drivers?

I have 1212m PCI. I also had BSOD (IRQ_LESS_bla-bla... & ha10kx2k.sys). Installing latest 1212m PCI-E (yes, pci-e) from emu(dot)com for win7(64) actually solved my problems =) Hope it helps:)

I'm still experiencing that (totaly new computer) and actualy it ruins my system and hardware, and my work. I'm close to changing it and not buying any EMU anymore, but actualy I'm going to try some IRQ changes and PCIe slots change inside my PC. Maybe someone have idea or found some solutions meanwhile?

Bear in mind that BSODs are caused by drivers.  Buggy drivers.
 
Have you tried running the M$ Driver Verifier over the EMU drivers?
 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244617/en-gb
 
Have the EMU drivers gone through the WHQL testing, do you know?  The WHCK (formerly WLK) test suite is actually very good and shakes out a lot of buggy driver problems.  I'd be quite surprised if a Microsoft certified driver was buggy enough to cause BSODs.

ston
Bear in mind that BSODs are caused by drivers.  Buggy drivers.

and also buggy software accessing those drivers ;-) did we all forget the lynx fiasco a couple of years back already?

My current motherboard, which is now discontinued, has only one PCI slot.  The rest are PCIe slots (X16, x8, 2 each and 3 X1 slots for Firewire, audio, etc.  But it screams with 32 Gb of ram.

lawp

ston
Bear in mind that BSODs are caused by drivers.  Buggy drivers.

and also buggy software accessing those drivers ;-) did we all forget the lynx fiasco a couple of years back already?

The nasty deodorant? ;-)
 
That again is a buggy driver, one that is not sanitising its inputs properly.  Reminds me of 'Little Bobby Tables':
 
http://xkcd.com/327/

I have been using an 1820m pci since Feb 2005. I do not recall having a BSOD directly related to the emu.  I have had sonar crash cuz of the midi driver. But not for months. Using 8.5 and X3.
 
I had some issues with midi-yoke a few years ago.  IRQ not less....
 
So, been using this interface with XP, Vista, 7, 8, and now 8.1 with all updates.
 
Currently: Windows 8.1, 1616 pcie 32 bit beta driver, 44.1 / 24 for settings.
 
I use WhoCrashed to learn which part of the driver is stealing the joy. it usually indicates the MIDI portion of the driver.
 
I remember once-upon-a-time sonar grabbed the strip names. But now I have to add the driver names to Sonar.
 
I use loopbe virtual midi cable.  I used to use loopmidi but it crashed sonar. I think this is a windows 8.1 thang.
 
However::::::
This past summer the audio was not working correctly. Was getting snaps and such. I do not remember if BS'sOD were involved. I replaced the three capacitors that were bulging and leaking and became a happy camper again.
 
Again: I have been using the 1616 pcie 32 bit beta drivers with my 1818m pci interface. And version 2.2 of patchmix. Windows 8.1 64.
 
Have not tried the 64 bit drivers.
 
Using the MIDI ports, and the ADAT ports, and the mic inputs, and some of the audio I/O ports.
 
I did make sure the emu was using a dedicated IRQ.
 
Just tried clicking all the buttons in sonar a lot, quickly, and just got a bunch of auto-saves.
 
Lately I have been having a problem with IE stealing the sound driver, even though I have all the settings to not be exclusive. This results in Sonar displaying an error. No crashes.
But sure is annoying to open the help file and lose audio I/O with sonar x3.
This does not occur with 8.5. Good thing cuz I often record from browsers into sonar.
 

Huh, I didn't think you could even use 32 bit drivers on an x64 system. I've been using the 64 bit ones on my Win7 64-bit, they work fine too. I've had a BSOD but that's maybe twice a year. Good hint about the midi driver, I'll check that out.