The EAX option is greyed out in my CHAOS THEORY mp beta sound menu but because I know that other players are using EAX I took a look at my SoundBlaster Audigy 2 control panel and found EAX to be (I think) not activated. There is a dizzying array of EAX options in this panel so I'd appreciate some guidance in machete-ing my way through the thicket here.

One more thing; is it safe to assume that EAX would degrade game performance? It did on my previous PC.

I have a relatively high-end system, details here:

P4 2.8 GHz
1 GB RAM
Win XP Pro
Ati Radeon 9800
Audigy 2

All drivers are up to date.