Creative X-Fi Audio PCI/PCI-e?

joewm18 · 14 Aug 2008 at 08:51

Hi all,

Currently I'm running a 5.1 setup from my onboard soundcard using SPDIF, onboard sound is the standard AC97.

Having run into some audio issues with Stalker, I'm looking for a cheap upgrade as a solution, and to improve sound in general.

I've been looking at the Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, which can be had for around £25 in either PCI or PCI-e.

My questions are, which of these do I buy? (I have a free PCI and PCI-e slot).
Would this card sap framerates in games at all, in comparison to the onboard card?

Thanks for any info!

Joe.

Molemanmus · 14 Aug 2008 at 10:01

if i were you id ge the extreme music (pci) because a lot of people say that the extreme audio isnt that good

joewm18 · 14 Aug 2008 at 10:26

I'm looking at no more than 30 quid really, my whole setup is quite budget and would just be wasted. Just wondered if 1 of these would be a worthwhile upgrade with little hit on perfomance, and which 1 is better - the PCI or PCI-e version.

Thanks

Uriel · 14 Aug 2008 at 10:59

What's your sound chip / motherboard?

You probably need a card with Dolby Digital live to get 5.1 over SPDIF in games. I think the XtremeAudio and XtremeMusic only do this with modded drivers - not as standard. Getting 5.1 over SPDIF with these cards is pretty much guarenteed to be a pain.

There are some fairly cheap cards using a C-Media chipset that should work (look for brands like Trust, Club3D etc with CMI8768+ chipset - not currently available on OCUK). Unfortunately at the moment 5.1 in games only works consistently in XP for these cards. Vista drivers are planned to rectify this but the release date for them keeps getting pushed back.

If you're using Vista I would consider saving up for an Asus Xonar D1 or DX.

Edit (if you consider a C-Media based card the + on the chipset is important. The non+ only does 5.1 over analogue).

EsaT · 14 Aug 2008 at 12:29

joewm18 said:
Would this card sap framerates in games at all, in comparison to the onboard card?

Hardware DSP cards (=Creative X-Fi) might not give better framerates compared to software cards which traditionally have done very little 3D sound effects but they enable high quality effects with lot of simultaneous channels/sounds without taking bad CPU load hit.

Also those Asus Xonar cards (only ones even trying to emulate more complex effects) are actually almost completely software based cards so that shows in CPU load:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...s-xonar-dx-7-1-pci-e-sound-card-review-8.html
With currently games being unable to fully benefit from extra cores that additional CPU load might not show but dedicated hardware is always lessens CPU load.

As far as using digital output for all sound that's been Creative's weak point but they've finally reacted to that.
Couple newest models (Titanium) support Dolby Digital Live directly and for older X-Fi and Audigy cards you can buy required driver component for small fee. (Creative needs to pay per device royalties to Dolby Labs for having right to add DD Live support)
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=122808

Molemanmus said:
if i were you id ge the extreme music (pci) because a lot of people say that the extreme audio isnt that good

That's because Xtreme Audio is rebranded stone age era SB Live! (and doesn't even support later EAX versions)