Question on a few peripherals

[NoctisReitop]

Then it's sealed. That bay is MINE ^^. Maybe if the fatal1ty card didn't have that 50dollar rebate, I'd pass, but I don't feel that I can...

[OCNoob]

Originally Posted by NoctisReitop

With the "bottleneck" of the sata150, is the raptor 10k rpm still worth the money? Is it still significantly and noticeably faster than a seagate 7200 rpm hdd?

Since it looks like you won't be running RAID with them, SATA 150 is not a bottleneck. Heck, even ATA 100 wouldn't be a bottleneck for these drives. The transfer rate of the drive only matters if the drive can read data faster than it can send.

This analogy is rather cliche but: take a road that has a 65MPH speed limit. Unfortunately, your car only goes 40MPH tops. What good is that additional 25MPH speed limit? Same thing with the Raptor. Average read speeds are around 70-75MB/s, so you're only using half the speed of what the bus offers.

But take the advice from people who HAVE bought the drive and used it in real-world applications from day to day. Honestly, I'd just buy a large HDD for cheap (500 giggers are going for $110 apiece on Newegg). RAID 0 two of them and you'd have 1TB of space and faster read and write speeds than a $200 Raptor.

[NoctisReitop]

EDIT:
Researched the RAID 0...

Seems the $50 rebate on the sound card expired about 4 hours ago. Seems I'm in a hole once again... ='(

[Elysium]

I'd skip the sound card in that case.

[NoctisReitop]

Newegg doesn't have an xtrememusic =\. I'd have to do Amazon for one piece...

[gvblake22]

I got an Auzentech XPlosion sound card and I have been extremely happy with it. It has more native features than the X-Fi, has a better cable bundle, and the drivers are very slim and easy to use and install. Unless you absolutely want the Creative front panel thinger, I would seriously consider the Auzentech card. You can also get basic third party external front panel audio modules similar to the Creative one.

[NoctisReitop]

I have no idea about any other sound card except Creative. I've had Creative all my life. I remember my old Sound blaster 16 and Sound blaster AWE 32 ^^. I still have them... somewhere. Tell me about that card. What other kind of features does it have?

[gvblake22]

Well, it features Dolby Digital Live and DTS connect, both real-time digital audio decoders useful when connecting speakers or amplifiers using a digital audio connection like Optical or coaxial. It also features native optical and coaxial digital audio out ports on the card, you need an adapter for the X-Fi (or the front panel module) to get any kind of digital out connection. The only drawback is that I don't think it has EAX support, which I believe the X-Fi does. EAX adds extra sound effects, but is really only available on games that also support it.

[onebxr]

Newegg.com - HT OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Newegg.com - AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

I have the ht omega striker 7.1 and it does a great job. If you do a comparison between the auzentech and the htomega card you see that they are the same card with the same processor, just a different name on the box. However, the htomega is 20.00 cheaper.
I use my omega in my htpc, I connect it to my tv by way if the optical connection. I am very happy with it. It performs as well as the x-fi cards. The reason I know this is I have the x-fi fatality in my home pc. I have never used the x-ram because you have to be in game mode for it to work. It is supposed to give you better frame rates, but in my very, very limited testing with this in css I cannot see any diference. So I leave the card in entertainment mode. In this mode both cards sound about the same. The only real advantage the x-fi fatality has over the ht omega is the options you have for the card. This is a software thing you can adjust any sound controlled by the card.
One big advantage of the htomega card is you can connect your front panel connections directly to the card. This means you can actually use the headphone/mic jacks on the front of your computer. There is not a x-fi card out that takes advantage of this feature.
Any more questions just ask.
-1

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by onebxr

The only real advantage the x-fi fatality has over the ht omega is the options you have for the card. This is a software thing you can adjust any sound controlled by the card.

For gamers, I would consider EAX support to be the biggest advantage, and Creative's main selling point.

Originally Posted by onebxr

One big advantage of the htomega card is you can connect your front panel connections directly to the card. This means you can actually use the headphone/mic jacks on the front of your computer. There is not a x-fi card out that takes advantage of this feature.

Very true, as Creative loves to up-sell that breakout box. :/ While not an ideal solution, for modders, you can make your own X-Fi front panel adapter (LINK).