newbie to speakers and soundcards etc - questions...

rjk

rjk

rjk

Caporegime
Joined
8 Aug 2007
Posts
25,380
hi there -
i have never really bothered with the sound quality of any of my machines before - but after seeing/hearing a friends new card/speaker setup i have decided to invest in some audio equipment for my rig

can anybody advise me?

was looking at the creative T20 speakers or a mid range 2.1 setup [not one of the £30 jobs]

what difference [if any] will there be between the two?
is there a good all round sound card that works in XPx32 and Vistax64 [as i dual boot]

i thought i had got out of asking questions like this years ago - but the truth is - i have only recently realised how much i have neglected my PC's potential sound capabilities.

thanks for any advice
 
have not seen the xtreme music

was looking at the xtreme gamer as an option
why would it not be a good choice?

i keep hearing there are problems running the extreme series cards in vista - is this even an issue anymore?

what makes the difference between music/gamer models [pardon my ignorance]

got the t20's on order!
just need to choose a card to do them justice
 
IMO the Gamer and Audio are not full blown cards, no idea why they wre even made.

I enjoy Music/Movies and Full EAX in Games so opted for my card in Sig.


2910218801oi0.jpg



http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-043-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=
 
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The xtreme gamer is alright. It has the same specs as the xtreme music but is a 1/2 height card and you can't add the front panel or breakout box later. DACS, Opamps etc are all the same.

Avoid the Xtreme audio. It's more like a soundblaster live or Audigy than an X-fi.
 
The gamer has the same signal to noise ratio as the other full x-fi cards. It's a smaller PCB but processor, DACS, Opamps etc are the same as the rest of the range, with the exception of the Elite Pro. It should produce exactly the same sound quality as the music, platinum, fatal1ty etc. The Elite Pro or Auzentech's Prelude are the only retail X-Fi cards with higher grade components.

Apologies for the wiki reference but Creative's own site isn't big on specs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-fi

I've ignored the XtremeAudio in the above as it shouldn't be considered an X-Fi.

Edit: forgot to mention the xtrememusic and xtremegamer both lack the 64MB X-RAM
 
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Heh. Can't name my source. Flipping competitor links in the only review I can find that goes into any detail on components...

Anyway - they've reviewed a half height pcb card called the XtremeGamer with the same X-Fi processor, CS4382 DAC and WM8775 ADC.

Ahh - found a link for the opamps: http://www.blazingpc.com/forum/showthread.php/modding_x_fi-5467/index.html?

X-Fi XtremeMusic, Platinum, Fatal1ty FPS, and XtremeGamer uses a JRC NJM4556 opamp for the main channels and three ST4558 opamps for the surrounds. They utilize the CS4382 DAC, which we will prove is a very good DAC. The X-Fi Elite Pro uses the JRC NJM2114 opamp for the main, three JRC NJM2068 for the surrounds, and the even better CS4398 DAC, which is the same DAC used in the Lynx, E-MU 1820, Headroom MicroDAC, Musiland MD10, Zhaolu 2.5C and other high end DACs. As you can see, these are good DACs.
Click to expand...

Like I said - the half height gamer has the same processor, DAC, ADC and Opamps as the full-height fatal1ty gamer. Aside from layout and expandability the only difference is the X-RAM.
 
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Im saying it does not, its the same joke as the Audio IMO.

The Card in the pictures is the Extreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro going by PCB if it even is that.

I cant prove it for now but still think the OP would be better of with one of the Original X-FI's.
 
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helmutcheese - I agree for convenience. I've just bought a music rather than getting a gamer. That's for if I ever did want to add a breakout box or front panel though.
 
so the concensus is that i should go for the xtreme music?

my T20s arrived today
just had a blast around UT3 and CSS with them
crysis sounds good too - really involving
looking forward to getting a decent audio card now

someone make my mind up
i know where i stand with gfx cards
just never paid enough interest in sound [until now] to be up to date with the best £ for £ card

i am looking at a £60 budget for the xtreme music/gamer

i dont know which is the best choice
i play games more
my ipod is for my music really [and only in my car where my bose speakers do the work]
 
The Extreme Music will be fine for games/movies/music and its the better card and as above user said, you could upgrade to the Front Line Drive Panel at a later date and control PC with a remote (can also get usb one now).

The OEM means nothing bad as you do not need anything but the card (you may get the CD) but can grab drivers+apps from Creative site.
 
i always go oem anyway
as i get all my hardware at work in oem form so im used to brown boxes rather than retail packaging [which lets face it, is what you pay through the nose for - "im looking at you microsoft"]

i think i will go for the extreme music

i have noticed that people suggest that onboard audio takes up system resources
surely this cant be too much [am i being naive?] would i see an improvement in all round performance once i get rid of onboard sound?
 
Barely. Depends on the onboar sound but Creative X-Fi can add a few % fps. Unless what you're playing is boarderline playable it's not noticeable.

Edit: that's just games. The X-Fi has hardware dolby decoding up its sleeve too, amoungst other things.
 
cheers
i think budget and requirements mean that the xtreme music is the one for me to go for

my fpanel is pretty full [drives/fancontrol/cardreaders]
so i dont think i would require extending the sound to the front panel

[plus more cable trails inside my rig is bad]

thankyou for all your help and advice - i feel i have learned a lot about these cards just from all of your opinions/reccommendations

thanks again
 
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