X-Fi minefield

azaniah · 19 Dec 2007 at 13:37

Can someone confirm or deny the following please.

1. X-Fi Xtreme Gamer has header connections for front panel, where as the Fatality Pro / Music editions don't as they have the option for the front expansion bay instead.

2. Music Edition is now disconntinued but is still out there as OEM

3. Fatality Pro essentially replaces the Music edition but with not quite the same spec of components, but has the X-Ram stuff (which doesn't do much)?

I had ordered a Music card, but Oc where out of stock. The nearest to it is Fatality Pro as far as I can see. This would be on Vista 64Bit 4Gig of Ram used for games and mp3 listening. (My true music setup runs a MOTU HD192 but thats a whole other kettle of fish). So need good gaming, decent audio and compatibility / stability.

Not paying £100 for one unless there is a very good reason to. (Prelude springs to mind).

Cheers

azaniah · 19 Dec 2007 at 16:58

So essentially a choice between Fatality and Music edition then, and as mostly used for gaming all much of a muchness.

I've not really paid much attention to vista, till yesterday when I bought the new rig.

Is it true that EAX is only supported by a translation layer natively in Vista 64bit? I vaguely remember reading something about another codec replacing it in Vista.

Does that effectively mean Creative are dead in water, as EAX was a key gaming / selling point?

Cheers

azaniah · 19 Dec 2007 at 17:06

lol - that's the minefield aspect for me. I "believe" that's an issue with XP not Vista 64Bit, but I could be wrong.

azaniah · 19 Dec 2007 at 17:07

Cheers for that Hobgoblin...

Questions remains (although not likely to make much difference to purchase) if EAX is being provided by an interpretation layer, is Creative losing it's grip on the gaming front? Should I be looking elsewhere for a decent gaming card now?

azaniah · 19 Dec 2007 at 17:20

Gotcha, basically just a different way to tie into the EAX code through a different Layer...

Fatality Pro looks like the one then (or music which was out of stock).

Lots of mention of Auzentech drivers, I assume as they are based on X-Fi cores with some twiddly tweakyness going on that you can apply those drivers to any native X-Fi board?