Has the time come thay games dont really need a X-fi card to get all the effects?

Phil2008 · 13 Apr 2008 at 20:35

A few yrs ago if you were a gamer and didnt have a creative card you were missing out on cool effects and stuff, but is that the case now?

for crysis,cod4, dirt and other latest titles do they use any "creative" sound effects that a non creative card cant produce, like eax 4 or 5? cos Im really thinking of scraping my xfi card for a Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1.

Ive just bought a new system (see in sig) and my xfi card slightly pops and stutters browsing the net, not a big deal cos its fine in games. I listern to quite a lot of music on my system, so do you think by getting a Auzentech X-Fi Prelude, I will notice any higher sound quality in my music and games?

AbsenceJam · 13 Apr 2008 at 20:43

The Prelude is an X-Fi with better components and extra features so for you the answer to the question makes no difference.
But to answer it anyway more and more games are using Dolby Digital and non-Creative methods of surround and 3D audio, however EAX is still pretty prevalent. There's also the Asus Xonar which emulates EAX5 in software.

Gimpymoo · 13 Apr 2008 at 22:55

The biggest release this week was Assassins Creed.. this used Dolby Digital and NOT EAX.

Maybe a sign of things to come?

Phil2008 · 13 Apr 2008 at 23:31

ummmm So if I change to a Auzentech X-Fi Prelude is it a downgrade or a upgrade? Upgrade for music, downgrade for games, and uses a lot of cpu power? ummmm

AbsenceJam · 13 Apr 2008 at 23:44

speedy2004 said:
ummmm So if I change to a Auzentech X-Fi Prelude is it a downgrade or a upgrade? Upgrade for music, downgrade for games, and uses a lot of cpu power? ummmm

Definite upgrade, as I said it's an X-Fi with better components and more features. It uses the X-Fi's DSP so you have all the same basic functionality and performance.

RobH · 14 Apr 2008 at 02:18

Gimpymoo said:
The biggest release this week was Assassins Creed.. this used Dolby Digital and NOT EAX.

Maybe a sign of things to come?

You would like to think so but the main reason it has Dolby Digital is probably because it's a console port where there is no EAX to make use of and DD is the standard.

Greebo · 14 Apr 2008 at 09:19

Gimpymoo said:
The biggest release this week was Assassins Creed.. this used Dolby Digital and NOT EAX.

Maybe a sign of things to come?

Yeah, we are going to get more and more console ports..........

AbsenceJam · 14 Apr 2008 at 09:44

RobH said:
You would like to think so but the main reason it has Dolby Digital is probably because it's a console port where there is no EAX to make use of and DD is the standard.

Very good point.

james.miller · 14 Apr 2008 at 12:19

i wouldnt really use one game as a sign of things to come - DD supporting games have been done before. also, The way DD support for the consoles works is a bit...sketchy. the original xbox did the DD mixing in hardware so no extra software was needed. the 360 im sure does the same using a hardware encoder. the ps3 however....that im uncertain of. since its capable of LPCM output as well as a plethora of other sound modes, im not sure. id assume that was done in hardware too, with the software just setting the relevant flag for the hardware to pick up on and work accordingly, which would make sense as the game's sound engine would then be left to work as it would in any other game on any other platform - letting the hardware deal with it.

id like to see games moving away from EAX since its only held sound back. they all need to migrate to an open standard that all hardware supports. its about time we saw advances in sound technology like we do in every other area.

Phil2008 · 14 Apr 2008 at 12:42

Yeh, and at the end of the day, creative cards are going down the pan, mainly cos of poor driver support. Thats the main reason I want to get shot of my xfi card, for a stunning Auzentech X-Fi Prelude card, when Ive got money to burn that is lol.

I really thought I would be keeping my xfi card for a good 5yrs or longer, but this isnt gonna be the case cos or crummy drivers

james.miller · 14 Apr 2008 at 12:44

speedy2004 said:
Yeh, and at the end of the day, creative cards are going down the pan, mainly cos of poor driver support. Thats the main reason I want to get shot of my xfi card, for a stunning Auzentech X-Fi Prelude card, when Ive got money to burn that is lol.

preludes ARE x-fis. built using x-fi processors, written for using modified x-fi drvers.

good luck with that if you dont like your x-fi

MikeHunt79 · 14 Apr 2008 at 12:52

xfi's aren't really that good for listening to music.

I wonder if anyones actually made a comparison how much difference EAX actually makes? Personally I think it's more to do with marketing than gameplay...

Phil2008 · 14 Apr 2008 at 13:16

On another thread I was reading, it says that the X-Fi Preludes are quite cpu hungry??

tHe_HyBrId · 14 Apr 2008 at 16:20

I am also consdiering ditching (giving to my brother

) my X-FI Xtreme Gamer for an Auzentech X-FI Prelude, yes they use the X-FI chip, but are 100% compatible with Vista x64, have excelletn drievrs or so I've heard, have 64mb of the ram 9which mine doesn't have, but it will surely help in titles to come) and best of all, won't suffer from the Scream of Death and also will hopefully provide better Music quality as this X-FI stutters, pops and crackles sometimes..

Regarding the higher CPU usage of the X-FI Prelude, I read that it uses less of the CPU in comparison to X-FI's, the Asus Xonar on the other hand practically requires the CPU to process the sound for it to output (again so I have read)..

HyBrId

AbsenceJam · 14 Apr 2008 at 16:37

speedy2004 said:
On another thread I was reading, it says that the X-Fi Preludes are quite cpu hungry??

There would be no difference unless you're doing something like DD Live.

adrichardson81 · 14 Apr 2008 at 17:16

Another one to look at is the new Asus Xonar DX (not sure if it's available over here yet). It's a pretty good alternative to the X-Fi - good sound quality by all accounts (that's always subjective though), and bound to be more compatible than Creative (IMHO they rely on gimmicks too much).

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=25&l2=150&l3=0&l4=0&model=2015&modelmenu=1

I know Creative bashed the way it implements EAX5, but few games use it, and they have to the same thing in Vista anyway :rolleyes:

Just a thought - what speakers are you using? You might do better upgrading them instead (highly recommed the Accoustic Energy Aego 2.1).

Phil2008 · 14 Apr 2008 at 17:58

Logitech z-680 speakers, well like i said I wont ba able to get 1 for a good 2 months or so, so that will give me time to look at plenty of review of diff soundcards, but Ive got my heart set on the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude at the moment.

Minstadave · 14 Apr 2008 at 18:52

Has X-Fi ever made much of a difference?

I can hear the difference with the surround sound, but its nothing very exciting compared to 5.1 onboard sound.

The only games I've noticed that specifically support the X-Fi are BF2 and maybe Prey iirc.

hardtarget · 16 Apr 2008 at 13:43

Has the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude still got problems with VOIP apps like Team speak? I read this on the feedback of this card.

"There is a known issue with mic input which Auzentech are yet to fix, whereby VOIP apps (Teamspeak, Ventrilo etc) stop broadcasting your mic input after a few minutes of running a game on top of them (such as WoW or BF2142).
There is NO FIX for this and no word of when one will be forthcoming, the only way around it is to re-enable your mobo's onboard sound and use it for mic input, which is a bit crummy on a £125 sound card"!

I'm alos looking to purchase a new card soon, but hate all the hassle with drivers that comes with creative X-Fi cards......... Had this high on my list too also the new Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 PCI-Express.