Alternative xfi drivers

[Disposed]

So i have been using an Xfi for quite some time with the default drivers from creative. I just learned about Daniel K's drivers however and am wondering if there is any reason to switch to those if i have no issues.

I cant really find an explanation as to what exactly is different about his drivers over the defaults.

Anyone know? If its better which ones are the most current? Navigating the creative forums is a pain.

 

[EarlKeim]

Daniel's drivers were originally modified to correct issues with installation under Vista and Windows 7. I have been running my X-FI Titanium now for a year with stock Creative software with absolutely no problem whatsoever under Windows 7 64 bit. Dont worry about those user created driver packs any more you dont need them.

 

[Disposed]

Daniel's drivers were originally modified to correct issues with installation under Vista and Windows 7. I have been running my X-FI Titanium now for a year with stock Creative software with absolutely no problem whatsoever under Windows 7 64 bit. Dont worry about those user created driver packs any more you dont need them.

Thats what i figured.

 

[Sycraft]

The time when they really mattered was back when, for some reason, Creative wasn't using their own latest drivers. They'd made new UAA compliant drivers which is the correct Vista/7 way of doing things. Auzentech used those for their cards, but Creative wasn't, they were using the older style drivers. So these were a hack that allowed those drivers for the Auzentech cards to install on any X-Fi. Was useful in particular for DDL/DSTi since the volume got set wrong on the Creative drivers.

However now all the drivers are the UAA version and they all seem to work fine. While Creative is still too lazy/cheap/whatever to get WHQL certification, the drivers seem to be nice and stable over all. The only issue I'm still aware of is that if you play UT3 or Mass Effect 1 with hardware accelerated sound, it'll crash after like 15-20 minutes. This is an X-RAM related thing and you just change a registry setting to turn off X-RAM.

You go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Creative Tech\Driver

In there will be a key that starts with PCI&VEN and then some numbers which you go to. In that you add a DWORD that is "DisableXRAM" with a value of 1. Reboot the system and problems are gone. XRAM is turned off, of course, but few things even try to make use of it, and I've never seen any performance hit.

This works on the Auzentech drivers too, since they are just the Creative drivers.