Should I upgrade my Audigy?

[TW]Fox · 16 Apr 2007 at 11:42

Hi all,

I've got an original Audigy. These new X-Fi's look nice.

Is there any point me upgrading? What benefits would it bring?

And whats the difference between them all? I see OEM ones for £25, what is the benefit of spending more given I have no need for front panels etc.

Currently game/listen to music through either a set of Creative Inspire 6.1's or a Senhieser headset.

[TW]Fox · 16 Apr 2007 at 23:38

So nobody knows then?

tom_nieto · 16 Apr 2007 at 23:46

Are you happy with your current sound? The "gamer" X-fi's have onboard memory which is supposed to increase framerate, but I remain largely unconvinced that the extra price is justified. The crystalliser is loved and hated in equal measure as far as I can tell, and I don't think I'd be using it.

The OEM ones will have a driver disk and won't have any other bundled software and you won't get the fancy packaging.

I don't think I'd be rushing to upgrade to a new sound card with your speakers if you're looking for extra quality, and unless you absolutely must have hardware support for the latest EAX version, then I really won't bother personally.

-Ad- · 17 Apr 2007 at 00:42

your audigy is very much the mondeo of soundcards

Nah, i wouldn't bother with upgrading with the speakers and headphones you have. When you get hi-fi separates then a better sound card will make a nice difference.

[TW]Fox · 17 Apr 2007 at 09:41

Main thing that got me thinking was the fact my Audigy is... ancient. I use the driver CD to install it each time as Creative refuse to provide full version of the AudioHQ and Speaker setup applications on their website and its dated July 2001...

tom_nieto · 17 Apr 2007 at 10:04

Does everything work as it should though? I suppose a new soundcard isn't *that* expensive, but there might not be massive gains to be had.

Firegod · 17 Apr 2007 at 15:47

I'd of said buy one... even more so if you are using headphones. The X-Fi is miles better than the old Audigy cards, I should know, I used to have an Audigy2.

If you were after one I was going to suggest the Music version... but ocUK don't seem to have it anymore?! I think the Gamer was equivalent to the Music version. Don't get the plain old Audio one... it's rubbish. No EAX stuff or anything for Gaming. It's proper cut-down.

You should be ok with the OEM release, my brother bought one and it came with the driver CD which is all you really need. So you're looking at roughly £50 (inc. p&p) if you wanted to change cards.

Just make sure when you install it you put it far away from the graphics card to stop crackling and pops due to heat, and make sure all the useless stuff is disabled in the BIOS. You should be ok.

But I've had zero problems with mine from day 1 and it sounds really good, especially .mp3's thanks to the Crystilliser. But it has lots of features to setup to just how you like it.

red_avatar · 22 Apr 2007 at 02:36

[TW]Fox said:
Hi all,

I've got an original Audigy. These new X-Fi's look nice.

Is there any point me upgrading? What benefits would it bring?

And whats the difference between them all? I see OEM ones for £25, what is the benefit of spending more given I have no need for front panels etc.

Currently game/listen to music through either a set of Creative Inspire 6.1's or a Senhieser headset.

NO. Do NOT upgrade at the moment. Unless you intend to stick with XP indefinitely. The current line of sound cards of Creative are a disaster in Windows Vista when it comes to drivers and support. I have an Audigy 2 myself but it's not much better for X-Fi. There's no software yet that lets you finetune your speakers, no equaliser software, sound breaks up in games, etc.

I'm personally waiting for Creative to announce their Vista line of cards. Vista has a completely different system for sound anyway, so it would be a bad move to now buy a card that may never get good compatible drivers.

Just so you know: unlike companies like Nvidia and ATI, Creative are one of the only major companies whose drivers have been consistently refused the WHQL label for all their Vista drivers. From what I read on the Creative forums, Microsoft have tried to cut out hardware support for sound to avoid problems in the future.