PCI-E X-Fi is here!

[Jfan]

So it's now in stock. I'm actually looking for a sound card just for basic optical output I might actually try one for the hell of it.

A pic :

please do and fill us in with what its like

I think i remember creative saying they wouldnt do pcie sound card because of latency issues, maybe they have solved them

I still cant decide on a sound card, im either going to get the prelude, or go for something like a fatality, Ive got this feeling creative might have something new on the horizen though :/

 

[Tute]

Yeah would really like to know how you get on.

Does this mean there is no chance of ever getting an Xtreme Music or Gamer version in PCI Express?

 

[lay-z-boy]

Should have one arriving mon/tues for a customer build. So if it's **** it's not my problem.

 

[Tute]

Should have one arriving mon/tues for a customer build. So if it's **** it's not my problem.

You gonna give it a "try" first?

 

[lay-z-boy]

You gonna give it a "try" first?

You could say that

 

[YoungBlood]

Maybe a stupid question but do these fit in the same PCI-E slots that graphics cards use?. I have a SLI motherboard but the other 16x PCI-E is not in use and I only have one free PCI which I would like to use for a TV card so need a PCI-E sound card in the long run.

 

[lay-z-boy]

yes

 

[Firegod]

Wonder if people will have less problems with this type of card?

 

[Toekiller]

Wonder if people will have less problems with this type of card?

Hahaha. It's still a Creative

 

[Hen_Dawg]

Wonder if people will have less problems with this type of card?

Time will tell and i'd be very interested to know.

But yes, it is a creative

 

[knowlesy]

what happend to the black and gold goodnesssss ????

 

[lay-z-boy]

what happend to the black and gold goodnesssss ????

It is the bottom of the range, value XFI.

Supplier is delivering the card for tonight, will get testing after work.

 

[MeatLoaf]

Had a play with this yet mate?

 

[lay-z-boy]

Just got in from work, got the card in my hands. Going to have a little play with it and compare it against my elite pro.

Stay tuned

 

[lay-z-boy]

Ok, tested it in 4 mainboards that i have quick access to; p5k del, dfi lanparty expert, p5wd2e-prem & a biostar tforce 6100. Works flawlessly in all of them.

Creative drivers off the website work a treat, i installed the applications from my elite pro disk over the top for some nice functionality.

Sound quality on my headphones (sony mdr v700) is fantastic on music and a short clip of a film, very close to the elite pro in sound, elite pro does have better dac's than the rest of the xfi range though.

Sound quality with my gigaworks s750's is also excellent, very crisp and no crackles or anything else at all

optical ports work as well as they should too

front audio header i don't think will work with any of my cases as they use the ac97 standard not the intel HD audio standard which the card has pinouts for, will try it anyway later.

going to try some games now;

css
bf2142 (uses eax5)
quake4
fear
+ serious sam2

 

[MeatLoaf]

Ok, tested it in 4 mainboards that i have quick access to; p5k del, dfi lanparty expert, p5wd2e-prem & a biostar tforce 6100. Works flawlessly in all of them.

Creative drivers off the website work a treat, i installed the applications from my elite pro disk over the top for some nice functionality.

Sound quality on my headphones (sony mdr v700) is fantastic on music and a short clip of a film, very close to the elite pro in sound, elite pro does have better dac's than the rest of the xfi range though.

Sound quality with my gigaworks s750's is also excellent, very crisp and no crackles or anything else at all

optical ports work as well as they should too

front audio header i don't think will work with any of my cases as they use the ac97 standard not the intel HD audio standard which the card has pinouts for, will try it anyway later.

going to try some games now;

css
bf2142 (uses eax5)
quake4
fear
+ serious sam2

Excellent work - im interested in hearing how it is for games. Any chance of a couple of pics of the card

 

[Hen_Dawg]

Thanks for info laz-y. Did you experience any of the common problems with the systems you tested with this evening?

 

[lay-z-boy]

Ok, back from a loooong session of gaming, gotta admit with headphones i can hardly tell the difference in SS2 and css, fear is a bit more noticeable as is UT2k4 with xfi patch. Quake 4 with OAL patch and 2142 are noticeable though, your surroundings don't sound very realistic, in 2142 if a grenade blows up on your left you hear it though the left speaker very loudly and next to nothing out of the right and it feels artificial.

In css, ss2 and fear sound was very good to the point where i found i had to concentrate to tell the difference between the two, that is probably due to the quality of the card and the games audio engine over crappy on-board audio solutions. When it came to games that were optimised for the xfi's gaming capabilities the gap was noticeable with poor sound-to-location representation in 2142, q4 and party ut(with xfi patch).

With 7.1 speakers it copes rather well, like the headphones, the extra speakers help out the reduced feature list however i am inclined to believe that these card do support some form of eax, the same level that other cards are legally allowed to support (3 or 2?) however this is not advertised.

So a quick low-down. For music, video's and films the card is fantastic and mops the floor with realtek. In games the line between the two is blurred slightly due to the lack of latest and greatest in eax and hardware processing but it is not to any degree bad, working to a close level that my elite pro does in a variety of games on headphones and 7.1 speakers.
Against your on-board stuff this card is miles better, the quality of sound is crisp, detailed and of generally good quality when paired up with some good speakers or headphones.
Against a higher end xfi it begins to loose in the games department with slightly poorer sound representation in games but still beating realtek soundcards in games by a long shot in the quality department.
Audio creation seemed to be ok but it seems to be cpu calculated if you try to do anything that would use the xfi chip to its max.

All in all:

Music = 8/10
Films & video = 8.5/10
Unoptimised games, ie css = 7/10
optimised games, ie. 2142 = 5.5/10
value for money = 8.5/10
problems = none, what so ever!

Good job creative!

 

[MeatLoaf]

Nice one indeed

So for games would you say the card is better or worse than realtek onboard?

 

[lay-z-boy]

its better by about this much

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