Xfi sound blaster card

Minstadave · 27 Apr 2008 at 13:49

The Xtrememusic has better caps, replaceable op-amps and gold-plated connectors.

I doubt you'd notice the differences though.

james.miller · 27 Apr 2008 at 13:53

the op-amps are replacable yes. they arent socketed though, they are smt parts soldered to the board just like the gamer. at a first glance the caps look exactly the same as well, unless you are refering to the surface mount caps?

helmutcheese · 27 Apr 2008 at 14:03

Somewhere in one of my posts, is a URL to a Geek site that modded the cards, they listed whats different.

There is even rumours the Extreme Audio and Extreme Gamer are not real X-FI Chips and glorified Audigy's of some sort.

The Extreme Gamer Fata1ty Edition is a full blown card and the exact same as the X-FI Fata1ty Champion Pro minus the Front I/0 Panel (Line Drive) and Remote.

james.miller · 27 Apr 2008 at 14:13

the audio is an ausigy se, i know that much its the same design and uses the same spu. the half height gamer uses a different version of the x-fi spu but it still does everything the other x-fi's do, other than the hardware differences and the dd/dts decoding that i mentioned above. i know they use exactly the same opamps and dacs across the range from the gamer upwards, with the elite pro using difference parts. the only thing i cant confirm is what caps are used. if you could find that that would be a great help.

all ive found is a load of posts on forums stating the gamer uses lesser parts but from owning one i know this isnt the case, at least in reference to the opamps and dacs.

oh and all this talk fo modding has got me wanting to rip my xonar out start modding it

GregI · 27 Apr 2008 at 18:10

So will getting an X-fi increase my fps in games?

Would that by anychance mean a higher 3dmark score on the cpu test since it does not need to process sound aswell?

james.miller · 27 Apr 2008 at 18:27

we're talking a few percentage here. i went from an x-fi to a xonar and there is no noticeable difference. im sure if i busted fraps out before and after id see different numbers but i really dont care lol

Minstadave · 27 Apr 2008 at 18:28

james.miller said:
we're talking a few percentage here. i went from an x-fi to a xonar and there is no noticeable difference. im sure if i busted fraps out before and after id see different numbers but i really dont care lol

Its not even a few percent, its really quite minimal and varies from game to game.

GregI · 27 Apr 2008 at 18:32

I can remember somebody made a claim of 5fps increase in Crysis.