Is a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio worth it?

J.B · 19 Oct 2008 at 00:54

I'm currently using my onboard audio on my M2N32-sli but thinking about buying a Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-052-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=&name=Creative%20Sound%20Blaster%20X-Fi%20Xtreme%20Audio%207.1%20Sound%20Card%20-%20OEM%20(PCI-Express)%20(30SB104200000)) would I notice an increase in sound quality or should I splash out for a more expensive card? Thanks in advance!

by the way I have a Logitech z5400 speaker system. Thanks

NVIDIA_x64 · 19 Oct 2008 at 09:47

It is a good card for music and Videos not for games tho as it is not hardware accelerated it is only software accelerated for games up to EAX 4.0

J.B · 19 Oct 2008 at 11:57

Damn, I had games in mind, I've just bought a GTX 260 so thought I could do with a decent sound to complement my decent graphics!

Any suggestions welcome, preferably <£80

NVIDIA_x64 · 19 Oct 2008 at 12:20

I would say any of these are good up too you tho i have had a Creative x fi platinum champion and now i have the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty PCI-E. Creative cards are still best for gaming but i have never had one of the asus sound cards b4 but other people say they are good.

Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card: £58.74 inc VAT http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-002-AS

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-E: £70.49 inc VAT (This is the same as the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty PCI-E sept it does not have 64mb of Xram and the Fatal1ty logo

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...r X-Fi Titanium 7.1 Sound Card (70SB088000000)

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty: £89.29 inc VAT This Week Only Offer

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...essional Series 7.1 Sound Card (70SB088600000)

Tetras · 19 Oct 2008 at 12:39

I'm currently using my onboard audio on my M2N32-sli but thinking about buying a Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...30SB104200000)) would I notice an increase in sound quality or should I splash out for a more expensive card? Thanks in advance!

I have the PCI-E X-Fi Extreme Audio and it works alright, the sound quality is rather nice to my untrained ears (better than the Audigy it replaced anyhow), nice and clear in 5.1 DVDs and works fine in my commonly played games (COD4, BF2, Eve-Online, RS2:Vegas).

Not questioning NVIDIA x64's advice, I'm sure it isn't the best buy for gaming, I'm just letting you know I'm a "gamer" and I'm happy with it

Toryglen-boy · 21 Oct 2008 at 06:55

J.B said:
Damn, I had games in mind, I've just bought a GTX 260 so thought I could do with a decent sound to complement my decent graphics!

Any suggestions welcome, preferably <£80

in that case, you really need a card with RAM on it, this helps with offloading the DSP processing from the CPU, cards like the Auzentech series use this as does the X-Fi, although whereas the X-Fi has 32MB RAM onbaord (please, someone correct me if i am wrong) the Auzentech's have 64MB and are powered by the same X-Fi chipset licensed from creative.

the difference in game varies 3-10 FPS faster

Uriel · 21 Oct 2008 at 09:55

Toryglen-boy said:
in that case, you really need a card with RAM on it, this helps with offloading the DSP processing from the CPU, cards like the Auzentech series use this as does the X-Fi, although whereas the X-Fi has 32MB RAM onbaord (please, someone correct me if i am wrong) the Auzentech's have 64MB and are powered by the same X-Fi chipset licensed from creative.

the difference in game varies 3-10 FPS faster

Yep - you're wrong on the RAM, It's 64MB on most Creative X-Fi cards with X-RAM (althouth not all have it).

I wouldn't worry about X-RAM too much in terms of performance. Only a very small minority of games use it and even then you would have to have a pretty old rig for it to make a difference as to whether framerate was playable.

I have a Xonar and, while pleased with it, I'm starting to view it, like the XtremeAudio as a step down from an X-Fi in terms of EAX compatibility. For example, EAX5 works in Bioshock but not EAX3 in Rome: Total War.

Toryglen-boy · 21 Oct 2008 at 22:31

Uriel said:
Yep - you're wrong on the RAM, It's 64MB on most Creative X-Fi cards with X-RAM (althouth not all have it).

I wouldn't worry about X-RAM too much in terms of performance. Only a very small minority of games use it and even then you would have to have a pretty old rig for it to make a difference as to whether framerate was playable.

I have a Xonar and, while pleased with it, I'm starting to view it, like the XtremeAudio as a step down from an X-Fi in terms of EAX compatibility. For example, EAX5 works in Bioshock but not EAX3 in Rome: Total War.

thanks for that, i have never had one, so i wasnt sure.

At any rate, i am thinking of getting one, but then again EAX is soooo not important to me, whereas good DTS or DD output is.