Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1

[Panda Man]

So recently I purchased an Creative X-FI card from the egg. Since this baby cost more than my Video Card, I may as well review it.

The card itself looked neat! Package contents:

The card (duh!)
Driver and Software CD
Sample DVD
An AOL CD-frisbie
Stickers for the jacks that I didn't use

http://pandaman.9999mb.com/Blaster/DSC00009.JPG
http://pandaman.9999mb.com/Blaster/DSC00011.JPG
http://pandaman.9999mb.com/Blaster/DSC00012.JPG
http://pandaman.9999mb.com/Blaster/DSC00014.JPG

Or the first 4 pics of this gallery

http://pandaman.9999mb.com/Blaster/

They're blurry, so you know I took those! >=D

The sample DVD was just the Setup CD with a demo of Battlefield 2 and FEAR on it.

Installation was easy. Its a PCI card =O . However, I nudged a capacitor with my finger on accident, and it felt like it was about to come off. Oh well, into the bus it goes! I actually had to move my cards around to get it to fit, its original deisgnation had the front panel pins and other wires in the way. Once I was into windows, I put the CD in, as I was too far to lazy to go find updated drivers. All the software looked nice, but hindered performance, so I tossed it and left only what was required (drivers and CP).

Screenshot! Not for the faint of heart.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/5569/screenshoteq4.jpg

I've seen about a 13 FPS overall increase from onboard (Realtek AC'97) and about a 4 FPS overall increase from my old sound card.

Sound quality is insane, not to mention EAX! Read the benchmarks to get a full understanding of what I mean.

Benchmarks between the X-FI and my old AOpen Cobra AW850D, tested on some i5800 5.1 speakers.

Red Orchestra
AW850D: Hmm, I can hear germans.
X-FI: OMG TEH GERMANS BES EVERYWHERE!!!!! This sounds so REALZ!

CoD 2 -

AW850D: Good
X-FI: WOWZERZ

BF2

AW850D: Ok
X-FI: WOW! Is that a *thwack!*

DragonForce

AW850D: Great, but only bangs head a little
X-FI: Even better, Bangs head alot.



So there you go! Go buy one. Now.

[Sovereign]

As long as you don't get the hissing, cracking or popping noises you're golden. I used onboard and said "It's good enough" but now that I have this X-Fi I'm not going back. BTW: Make note of your awesome new purchase in your sig.

[Panda Man]

Originally Posted by Sovereign

As long as you don't ge t the hissing, cracking or popping noises you're golden. I used onboard and said "It's good enough" but now that I have this X-Fi I'm not going back. BTW: Make note of your awesome new purchase in your sig.

oooo, thanks for reminding me!

[gvblake22]

First four pics don't work!

We also have a review of the Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic, but it is always nice to hear someone else's thoughts. Thanks Panda Man!

[Sovereign]

This soundcard rules...once my cracking and popping went away. My X230's probably don't do it justice...oh well. It's still awesome. And me and a friend are going to try hooking his 5.1s and my 2.1s up at the same time for 7.2 Sound Blasting (he has the 5.1 version of my speakers)

By the way, Panda what Windows theme is that? I want it :)

[screwballl]

when I put together my build, I already have te plan for an X-Fi of my own... hopefully christmastime or so

[Panda Man]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

First four pics don't work!

We also have a review of the Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic, but it is always nice to hear someone else's thoughts. Thanks Panda Man!

WTF!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Long story short, I fixed it.

Its just the first 4 pics of this gallery

http://pandaman.9999mb.com/Blaster/

My card the reviewed one are different versions. Mine has a heatsink! and pins are spaced out on mine. So naturally this all means that my card is a lot more powerful and efficient that your card! (just kidding ;P )

@Sov - NO ITS MINE YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!

I have a copy in this zip ;)

http://pandaman.9999mb.com/files/uxtheme.zip

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

I want a X-Fi Fata1ty. They sweet....

But does the 64MB X-RAM help?

[gvblake22]

To perfectly honest with you guys, I upgraded from my X-Fi to an Auzentech HDA XPlosion and I couldn't be happier and haven't looked back at the X-Fi since. The software is much more simple, the drivers work flawlessly on the first try and do not hog up system resources to run fancy control panels, and it has more features than the X-Fi (like native digital coax and optical out and DolbyDigital Live and DTS Connect) all for less $$ than the X-Fi. And it actually comes with a digital optical cable (unlike the X-Fi), imagine that!

The X-Fi is a great card, but I think it has been hyped up too much. I would take the Auzentech HDA XPlosion over an X-Fi any day.

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

To perfectly honest with you guys, I upgraded from my X-Fi to an Auzentech HDA XPlosion and I couldn't be happier and haven't looked back at the X-Fi since. The software is much more simple, the drivers work flawlessly on the first try and do not hog up system resources to run fancy control panels, and it has more features than the X-Fi (like native digital coax and optical out and DolbyDigital Live and DTS Connect) all for less $$ than the X-Fi. And it actually comes with a digital optical cable (unlike the X-Fi), imagine that!

The X-Fi is a great card, but I think it has been hyped up too much. I would take the Auzentech HDA XPlosion over an X-Fi any day.

Mmm, I've heard about this. Did you do a review on this? It looks familiar.