X-Fi -> Is it good?

mrk · 19 Jan 2007 at 12:11

dieschwalbe said:
I have an nForce4 mobo, the ASUS P5N32-SLI-SE-Deluxe with an nVidia 7950GT (512mb) and an Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 and I recently bought an X-Fi Xtream Gamer Fatal1ty Pro and I'm running it happily with no issues (yet!). I'm playing both BF2 and BF2142 and don't experience any of the issues that I have read here from some peole. Am I one of the lucky ones, or have they finally sorted the problems they did have? FYI, I have the system overclocked in BIOS to 20% too.

I am real pleased with my purchase. The sound is incredible.

The gamer is the newer revision of sfi with newer firmware so doesn't have any issues

dieschwalbe · 19 Jan 2007 at 12:14

Cheers m8!

Whoop · 19 Jan 2007 at 12:39

mrk said:
The gamer is the newer revision of sfi with newer firmware so doesn't have any issues

I wouldn't 100% agree given my other thread.. I have a 1month old -

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Soundcard - Retail

Which reboots the pc when the driver install gets to about 68% and then windows is ruined and needs reinstalling.

Whoop

mrk · 19 Jan 2007 at 12:43

nf4 mobo here with nvidia 7950gt 512 and no isses here though :/

Whoop · 19 Jan 2007 at 13:02

mrk said:
nf4 mobo here with nvidia 7950gt 512 and no isses here though :/

I'm a bit torn what to do tbh, it worked on my nf2 system last week so I know the card is fine.. and I really use it for bf2.

The Creative forums are soooo messy with posts that I'm not sure if I should try getting the Xram version, see about sending it off or just use on board sound. Its a bit of a drop though

It looks like the forum says the Gamer isn't affected.. then why do I have an endless reboot issue

Whoop

danieln1 · 20 Jan 2007 at 00:42

I have xfi my self dont notice big diffrence from Audigy 2 card

but in vista dont xfi render useless now with no direct sound all done by software now

so could be expensive PCI slot taker ?

mrk · 20 Jan 2007 at 01:35

danieln1 said:
I have xfi my self dont notice big diffrence from Audigy 2 card

but in vista dont xfi render useless now with no direct sound all done by software now

so could be expensive PCI slot taker ?

it's because there are no VISTA drivers that are final yet since vista is not officially out and creative have yet to release full vista drivers.

mrk · 20 Jan 2007 at 03:39

smoove said:
I would say no its not worth the money at all, unless you want the top dog stuff. I bought it over my motherboards sound card and hardly noticed any difference, sold it a few months later, waste of money.

What speakers you have? if you have generic "5.2" or normal speakers you're not going to get any difference audible by upgrading the source.

pegasus1 · 20 Jan 2007 at 09:34

smoove said:
I would say no its not worth the money at all, unless you want the top dog stuff. I bought it over my motherboards sound card and hardly noticed any difference, sold it a few months later, waste of money.

Ive found the opposite, Film/music/game sound quality is far better than my Audigy2 and i can use full sound (HD and EAX3/4) in games with zero performance hit to the FPS.
For me it was a great £50 well spent, thats for the extreme music version.
PS
before you instal make sure you use Driver Cleaner and then use a Registry editer to hunt down any Creative SB files left over and finally check MSCONFIG that there is nothing left in there.
The Creative uninstal utility in rubbish and leaves loads of files behind causing compatability issues.

mrk · 21 Jan 2007 at 01:02

smoove said:
Marantz amp and a pair of B&W's

I installed the card from a fresh install, for me, It was a total waste of cash really.

perhaps it's your ears then because even from my santa cruz to xfi i can hear the difference - In games of course. Movies and music are more or less the exact same (I don't use eax/cmss or crystaliser in entertainment mode, have a direct feed straight to my kenwood receiver and JPW floorstanders.

Or perhaps you're just not playing media that has the complexity to show the differences! try classical music or something like Damien Rice where ther eis a crapload of detail to be heard through decent headphones/speakers that "software" cards can't seem to output.

tommy_knockers · 23 Jan 2007 at 14:27

I tried the Xfi extreme music and Creative G500, except for it being louder than my old £2.5 set I couldnt tell any difference. Quite disappointing really.

And it dosnet seem to work properly in games. I mean I have set up the speakers like

1here around Half a mtr to my left 1.in front of screen Sam on other side

One behind my seat around 1/2 meter same on other side.

Subwoofer on floor near my feet.

When I play CS-S it gives a slight feedback as someone being beside me or whatever but it is nearly impossible to tell and by the time you can you are dead.

I test the sound in CS-S where it does it and it seems to be ok there