Xfi sound blaster card

kmufc77 · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:05

i have a standard sound blaster auidgy card and i was wondering what the difference is compared to the high end sound cards in the XFI editions cards?

will i notice a difference i play lots of music,movies and gamming

Monkeynut · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:12

It will sound better, and you will have EAX 5. A better option though would be this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-002-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat= (provided you have a x1 PCI-E slot)

Chimerical · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:30

w00t. Finally, Asus have released (or are about to) the budget Xonar.

Looks awesome and a perfect alternative to Creative's mid-range cards.

james.miller · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:32

asus could shake up the entire market with that card. it is extremely well priced.

kmufc77 · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:35

will i notice a massive differnce to my standard soundblaster i do watch a lot of high def movies

Chimerical · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:39

With the Xonar from the Audigy?

Yes, absolutely you will notice a difference.

Chimerical · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:41

james.miller said:
asus could shake up the entire market with that card. it is extremely well priced.

Plus, low profile with a low profile bracket and, what appears to be, decent build quality.

Hope Asus bury Creative.

kmufc77 · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:48

ok thanks all for helping us, im not sure if my spare pci express slot will be able to use as my water cooling setup :res and GTX is in the way im sure this will stop me getting anything in spare pcie slot i will have to look later on, will the XFI use pci express or just the standard connection what my soundblaster auidgy is using now?

Chimerical · 25 Apr 2008 at 20:50

The Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Music UAA Vista-Certified uses a standard PCI slot, same as your Audigy (long name lol)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-055-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

Aod · 27 Apr 2008 at 00:57

but you don't want a creative product because they're terrible!

nightmare99 · 27 Apr 2008 at 11:18

Hmmm I have been waiting for a decent mid range PCI-E sound card to tip up, as my system has been running so well I have been put off the thought of stuffing an X-Fi in. Does this cheap Xonar do EAX 5? Also requires a floppy power connector which is a bit of a pain at first I thought the connector was a HD Audio FP connector.

Although I really want ASUS to put pressure on Creative to get things moving forward. Shame I will probably have to replace my speakers at some piont as well they can only accpet stereo four piont in and not 5.1 (unless using spdif and dolby digital).

Best sound card I ever owned was nvidia soundstorm. :cool:

james.miller · 27 Apr 2008 at 11:31

the dx does everything its bigger brothers do and to within a few percentage of the sound quality. its the best value sound card we've ever had really

GregI · 27 Apr 2008 at 12:04

Just to stop making another thread i'll be hijacking.

Right, so that asus xonar seems the way to go but what if i just wanted a cheapo x-fi card?

I've been looking at this -

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-052-CL

I'll have to see if i even have a 4 pin molex connector in mah box of bits.

james.miller · 27 Apr 2008 at 12:12

if you want a cheap card then get a cheap card. but it wont touch the dx. the xtreme audio is no match for the xonar DX. no creative xfi is.

Minstadave · 27 Apr 2008 at 12:26

GregI said:
Just to stop making another thread i'll be hijacking.

Right, so that asus xonar seems the way to go but what if i just wanted a cheapo x-fi card?

I've been looking at this -

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-052-CL

I'll have to see if i even have a 4 pin molex connector in mah box of bits.

That is not a proper X-Fi, it doesn't have an X-fi chip so can't do any of EAX or advanced functions of the X-Fi.

GregI · 27 Apr 2008 at 12:58

So this is a proper X-FI for what 5 quid more?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-049-CL&tool=3

james.miller · 27 Apr 2008 at 13:00

no, that is still an xtreme audio card. you want the xtreme gamer at least. the xtreme audio is based on an audigy se - awful cards!

GregI · 27 Apr 2008 at 13:05

Ah right, i'm finally beginning to understand this cover up business by Creative.

Spose i'll go all the way and get the retail of that one.

Minstadave · 27 Apr 2008 at 13:32

Get the OEM XtremeMusic:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-055-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

Its better than the Xtremegamer, uses better components and has more outputs.

But even better get this when it comes out:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-002-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

None of the awful creative driver problems, better sound quality.

james.miller · 27 Apr 2008 at 13:40

the only differences i know of are the front panel connect on the gamer (not on the music), the x-fi break out connector (not on the gamer) and the hardware dd/dts decoding (not on the gamer). the dac's are the same, the hardware is largely the same except the gamer is a half height card. what other differences are there? ive noticed lots of peope are saying the music has better hardware, but i cant find what is better?