X-Fi Xtrememusic OEM version, question for those in the know, is it real or not?

Raelthorne

Raelthorne

Raelthorne

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Joined
26 Mar 2005
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143
Hi,

I'm interested in getting the OEM X-Fi Xtrememusic card off this site. I was wondering if anyone who has an OEM version can tell me if this is the same hardware as the normal retail version?

I know that OEM versions usually are provided without packaging, software etc, but there is a number of OEM X-Fi's which are technically inferior than the retail version, it seems to be missing a number of hardware features such as decoding.

See here for details:

When is my X-Fi not an X-Fi?

I think this may have been refered to in a previous post

Can you let me know if the one you have/OCUK is selling, is technically the same as the retail one.

thanks,

Ken
 
Yes read down to the bottom of the thread - he somehow managed to source a card that had been specifically manufactured to go into a Dell machine which had (surprise, surprise) a cut-down feature set (get someone to tell you about OCing Dell motherboards sometime - it can't be done, generally speaking :) )

He was also a bit cagey about who the supplier was - I'm guessing it was ripped out of a Dell machine and sold on Ebay, but that's my theory. OEM stuff from Overclockers will be just the same as retail without the packaging and other crap, so don't worry
 
Hi:

Does any installation CD come with the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM (SC-043-CL) £56.99 incl VAT soundcard?

I'm just curious, because when I bought an Audigy 2 ZS OEM, an installation CD came with that.

Many thanks. :)
 
So, no one seemed to answer? Are the oem cards at Ocuk dell branded or not? Are they the real deal without packaging and with a £27 quid discount on?
 
The oem cards, at least the dell ones are missing the decoder tab in the creative audio console. So you have no way of enabling the built in 5.1 decoder or selecting an external decoder. This is because Dell license the cineplayer DVD decoder pack for dvd playback, so I assume it's cheaper not to buy the 5.1 decoder option from Creative. I have compared a dell oem and a retail card and they are in fact the same model no, and the boards are identical in every detail. I can only surmise that the bios on the oem card is different as it will not let you install the drivers from the retail cd. It complains about not finding supported hardware. I guess the plug and play id string is different from the retail. My advice is to not take the chance and buy the retail card.
 
I have one of the OEM ones from OcUK lying here on my desk (I must get around to installing it).

The serial number is MASB0460546019699G

It appears that means that the real model number is 0460, which is a standard X-Fi.

However, CL seems to be a bit, to be polite, unreliable. So who knows for sure?

If someone had told me about that thread, I would have thought it likely they were pulling my leg. Using two model numbers, one of which is part of the serial number and one of which contradicts the other. Where the stated model number is not the real model number. That's very dodgy business practice. The CL moderators and fans coming in with risibly weak excuses for it would have been amusing if cut-down cards weren't being misleadingly labelled with CL's approval. The CPU analogy was a complete joke. It would be more like buying an Athlon64 labelled with a model number of A643700 and then finding it was a special cut-down version with 128KB of L2 cache and an actual model number of 2800, the existence of which wasn't mentioned on AMD's website at all.

I didn't know that CL was such a dodgy company.
 
I was under the impression that the only differences between Creative Retail and Creative OEM cards were that the retail cards that had gold plated connectors, had them, and the OEM versions, didnt. :confused:
 
in the opening post in that thread, he comapares two images

this is dubbed as his friends panel
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/1494/emxf9se.png


and this is the one he can see
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/4877/myxfi6uu.png


in the first image he's comparing two options, the Dolby Surround sound features and the DTS features.... and then in *his* panel he's on the wrong menu anyway!?!?

the menu he is showing us is the Digital IO screen - and from his image nothing is missing on that screen.
 
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