Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi SB0670 (Xtreme Music) $33.69+ ~$8 S/H at Geeks.com

Absinthe

Gawd
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
662
Credit to Dani @ Anandtech -

Features/Specifications:
Sound Blaster X-Fi SB0670 PCI Sound Card


General Features:
PCI interface
24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rate
24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output
24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output
16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz


Regulatory Approvals:
FCC
CE

Package Includes:
Sound Blaster X-Fi SB0670 PCI Sound Card


Additional Information:


Requirements:
Genuine Intel Pentium III 1 GHz, AMD 1 GHz processor or faster
Intel, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard chipset
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
256 MB RAM
600 MB of free hard disk space
Available PCI 2.1 slot for the audio card
CD-ROM/CD-RW or CD/DVD-ROM required for software installation
Graphics card with DirectX 9 and OpenGL compliant 3D graphics accelerator


Notes:
OEM for HP
HP part #: 5188-7375



Price $36.99 + Shipping ($8 to Central US)

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SB0670-BULK

Edit :

Coupons ;)

10% off at Geeks.com - Code: MOMSVIEW Expires 12/31/08 Note: Not valid with AMEX or Discover card purchases or on items marked as "GEEK Special!"

10% off items not marked special coupon code-SHOPPINGBARGAIN Expires 12/31/08

Mods :


Modded file for x-fi installer cd for hp and other oem cards

Hotrodding the X-Fi: A Layman's Guide (No 56k)
 
Isn't this that the new SB Live and its not a real X-Fi as it has no VRAM?
 
That's not an "official" retail extrememusic, the XM is SB0460 and the back plate is gold. The Geeks.com looks to be an HP OEM version, at least that's what I'm finding doing a quick google search on SB0670, even found a couple forum topics, one dated 6/17/07.

Creative does not support this card (i.e. drivers, etc.)

You have searched for SB0670.
Drivers/Firmware/Applications
Sorry, no Creative updates are available for the selected query.
 
Its a real X-Fi. All you have to do is mod an driver disc with a couple of files that basically adds the card to the .inf so that the software will recognize it. after that it will prompt you to download the latest drivers. You won't get ALL of the extra fluffware, but you'll get the main drivers, the volume control, crystalizer control, EAX, and the Alchemy software that activates EAX and hardware effects in Vista.
 
Its a real X-Fi. All you have to do is mod an driver disc with a couple of files that basically adds the card to the .inf so that the software will recognize it. after that it will prompt you to download the latest drivers. You won't get ALL of the extra fluffware, but you'll get the main drivers, the volume control, crystalizer control, EAX, and the Alchemy software that activates EAX and hardware effects in Vista.
Details on how to do that would be awesome.
I ordered it yesterday from Geeks through Buy.com for $10 off using Google Checkout.
 
Do you mind telling us, or linking to where you can find the instructions to mod the inf so that this card can get updated?

for $40 dollars, with the hardware dps, I'll bite. these are great cards and I love the bass / treble control.

I've dealt with OEM hardware before like this and it's a pain in the ass getting driver support, hence the lower cost you can find these items at.

Thanks in advance
 
Do you mind telling us, or linking to where you can find the instructions to mod the inf so that this card can get updated?

for $40 dollars, with the hardware dps, I'll bite. these are great cards and I love the bass / treble control.

I've dealt with OEM hardware before like this and it's a pain in the ass getting driver support, hence the lower cost you can find these items at.

Thanks in advance


Modded file for x-fi installer cd for hp and other oem cards


Hotrodding the X-Fi: A Layman's Guide (No 56k)


Also note, I have updated the OP with a couple of 10% off coupons.

Enjoy! ;)
 
Yes, I'm pretty sure this is the hardware based DSP based X-Fi, basically the one that's normally $109 or $119. I paid 139 for mine 2 years ago if not longer.
 
so this card does have a DSP? I thought only extreme audio and up did.

The Xtreme Audio (both versions) is the only X-Fi without full hardware accelation. This HP card has the EMU20K1. On that note, the Xtreme Audio is the exact same hardware as the Audigy SE which sells for $30 everywhere (like Wal Mart). And continuing on this trend, the Audigy SE is not even a real Audigy card...
 
Anyone know if this has the pins for front audio?

Probably gonna bite on this once I get a check in a day or two.

Also, OP, when I tried both of the coupon codes, I couldn't get them to work. Do they not take effect until the final payment page?
 
Anyone know if this has the pins for front audio?

Probably gonna bite on this once I get a check in a day or two.

Also, OP, when I tried both of the coupon codes, I couldn't get them to work. Do they not take effect until the final payment page?

Nope, this one doesn't have AC97 front panel audio pins, nor does it have the pins for the Creative X-Fi 5.25 bay jack pack (LiveDrive). The AUD_EXT header is there for the LiveDrive, but there are no pins soldered in.
 
Ahhh I have the Xtreme Music, a different revision, first board didnt have the heatsink, this one does.

Mine does have the hardware dsp
 
Nope, this one doesn't have AC97 front panel audio pins, nor does it have the pins for the Creative X-Fi 5.25 bay jack pack (LiveDrive). The AUD_EXT header is there for the LiveDrive, but there are no pins soldered in.

Oh well, I think I can get by without front audio. The only time I ever use it is at LANs and I have an extension cable anyway.

Thinking after this the next step is to get some better speakers. Maybe I'll see if there are any deals on the Logitech 5500's going on when I get my stimulus check. For reference, these are the speakers I'm using now:

http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=90

Far from horrible, but with a new sound card, I think I'll need something else in order to notice a difference.
 
One more question: Anyone have any idea if this work's with Daniel_K's drivers? I'm running Vista x64, so It'd be nice to have full functionality.
 
I bit last night, I've never used a sound card before, but always thought about it. At this price for an x-fi, I just couldn't resist.

A couple of questions: I have the Creative Fatal1ty Headset (sooooooooo comfy) that was on buy.com for $40. Are these good enough to notice a difference in? I assume since I will be able to use the EAX stuff there should be a good difference.

I also have a pair of bose headphones that I use with my mp3 player, if I use them with this sound card for music, would I notice much of a difference?

Lastly, right now I just have a Sony stereo hooked up to it (2 speakers and a sub). I like them, but I doubt there are actually of really good quality. I guess like some other people have said, my next upgrade should probably some nice speakers (probably Logitech). Can anyone recommend a good set to pair with these (not too expensive!)?

Thanks, I'll report back with my luck of getting the modded drivers working.
 
I bit last night, I've never used a sound card before, but always thought about it. At this price for an x-fi, I just couldn't resist.

A couple of questions: I have the Creative Fatal1ty Headset (sooooooooo comfy) that was on buy.com for $40. Are these good enough to notice a difference in? I assume since I will be able to use the EAX stuff there should be a good difference.

The CMSS headphone surround algorithm that Creative uses with the X-Fi is simply awesome. It makes gaming a real treat with a nice set of cans.

BTW, I got in on that same deal for the Creative Fatal1ty Professional Headphones. My Chaintech AV-710 can't drive them worth shit but man are they comfortable. In fact I'd go so far as to say they are quite possibly the most comfortable headphones I've ever used. This is no small feat because I have a rather large head and usually have trouble finding headphones that fit me. :)
 
One more question: Anyone have any idea if this work's with Daniel_K's drivers? I'm running Vista x64, so It'd be nice to have full functionality.


I thought those drivers were only for the Audigy series? Something about Creative disabling certain features on the Audigy cards in Vista?
 
The CMSS headphone surround algorithm that Creative uses with the X-Fi is simply awesome. It makes gaming a real treat with a nice set of cans.

BTW, I got in on that same deal for the Creative Fatal1ty Professional Headphones. My Chaintech AV-710 can't drive them worth shit but man are they comfortable. In fact I'd go so far as to say they are quite possibly the most comfortable headphones I've ever used.

Yeah, I've been using onboard sound (which is actually sounds decent to me, but I've never used a sound card. These headphones are definitely the most comfortable I've ever used. Even with glasses it is comfortable. There are HUGE, and have a ton of padding... They don't really make get me hot either, which is good. I'm hoping I notice a good difference with the combination of this sound card and those headphones.

Anyway, can someone comment on how exactly they got the modified drivers to work? The drivers online are just a .exe file, not an iso. Hopefully this sound card comes with an installation CD i can use (but it would obviously be the HP ones).

Am i supposed to use the normal .iso for x-fi (I've found it over at the creative forums) and apply the modified files to that?

Thanks in advance
 
I thought those drivers were only for the Audigy series? Something about Creative disabling certain features on the Audigy cards in Vista?
Wasn't really sure, just checking because I had heard that there were issues with the X-Fi's and Vista.
 
Am i supposed to use the normal .iso for x-fi (I've found it over at the creative forums) and apply the modified files to that?

Thanks in advance

Exactly.

As I understand it you extract the ISO somewhere on your hard drive, apply the .INF patch, and then use nero to burn the files back to a CD. Then you've got yourself a genuine X-Fi install CD that will probably be way better than the HP version. From there you SHOULD be able to apply the latest patches and upgrades from Creative.


Also there has been some controversy about this card with people saying it's a completely different design, it's missing certain chips, etc. Not true, these people are misinformed and/or out of the loop. This card looks different from 'current generation' x-fi cards because it uses the ORIGINAL X-Fi PCB design (Think the original XtremeMusic when the X-Fi first launched). The newer X-Fi cards (yes, I'm talking about the REAL X-Fi cards) use a slimmed down PCB with less components and a different layout.

These ARE 'real' X-Fi cards, they just have a different hardware subvendor ID that the Creative installer CD doesn't recognize by default. That's why you either have to use the HP driver package, or modify the Creative install set.
 
Alright Blue Falcon, thanks a lot. I just used magic iso and applied the patch (as simple as replacing one rar file). Now I have to wait until the card gets here to make sure it works... I'm pretty excited to see (hear) the difference!
 
Ordered, got my check today, so thanks again OP.

I don't think that I'll use it with any nice speakers for now, but it'll be nice to at least have the better amp than my onboard audio provides.
 
How, exactly, do you get the software package for this card on Vista? I'm having some trouble figuring it out.
 
Are these new? Geeks.com has developed a history over the past year of posting item ambiguously on their site such that one thinks they're new and then they deliver refurb or returned items.

It's a good price point, but I've been burned by Geeks.com before.

I know the page on their site says "new". That doesn't always mean anything. I'm interested in hearing from folks who have actually received their item.
 
So ya, I got the card today (fast shipping!) and installed it.

Edit: So ya, I had tried like 9 million different drivers to get it to work. The last thing I tried because it was what I had the least hope for, was the offical drivers for the X-Fi XtremeMusic off of Creative's website. And ya... they worked...
so ya, you shouldn't have to worry about modded/patched drivers/iso's and such.
I'm using XP, the driver file I downloaded from Creative is SBXF_PCDRV_LB_2_15_0006.exe

I just wish I could figure out a way to get the "Entertainment Center" software...

this is what I have...


this is what I want :(


Here are a couple pics of the card though...
sb0670_1.jpg


sb0670_2.jpg
 
I just wish I could figure out a way to get the "Entertainment Center" software...

this is what I have...


this is what I want :(
[PICS O STUFF]

This is basically why I spent $14 more for the Creative SB0460. Well, the software and the front panel audio connectors on the 460.
 
Phimp did you try using the original .iso you downloaded (the 600+ mb one) after you got those final drivers installed? Maybe you can use that to install the software you wanted?
 
You get the crystallizer and all that stuff, just not the entertainment center, right?
Ya, you get the X-Fi Crystalizer, you can swap between Entertainment/Game/AudioCreation modes, Speaker configurations, SVM, EAX Effects, X-Fi CMSS-3D, Headphone CMSS-3D, etc.
but it's all in that ugly window i posted a screenshot of.

No equalizer :(
I really want the audio recording feature of the Audio Creation mode in the Entertainment Center software... trying to record songs on myspace band profiles with Nero via Stereo Mix sounds like dog poo.
As for the equalizer, I guess I can just set all that stuff on my Denon receiver but still... lame.

It doesn't look like that nomoregoatsoup download has anything the default drivers from the website don't have.

Edit:

Phimp did you try using the original .iso you downloaded (the 600+ mb one) after you got those final drivers installed? Maybe you can use that to install the software you wanted?
Hmm.. I'll have to try that, thanks for the tip.
 
ok so. is it any good and is it worth it? IS it [hot] ?? may pick one up if you guys give it the nod
 
Ya, you get the X-Fi Crystalizer, you can swap between Entertainment/Game/AudioCreation modes, Speaker configurations, SVM, EAX Effects, X-Fi CMSS-3D, Headphone CMSS-3D, etc.
but it's all in that ugly window i posted a screenshot of.

No equalizer :(
I really want the audio recording feature of the Audio Creation mode in the Entertainment Center software... trying to record songs on myspace band profiles with Nero via Stereo Mix sounds like dog poo.
As for the equalizer, I guess I can just set all that stuff on my Denon receiver but still... lame.

It doesn't look like that nomoregoatsoup download has anything the default drivers from the website don't have.

Edit:

Hmm.. I'll have to try that, thanks for the tip.



You HAVE to have a copy of the Creative X-Fi install CD, and in this case it has to have a modified installer file to work with this card. This X-Fi is identical to the original XtremeMusic cards, but it has a special subvendor ID unique to HP and as such the Creative install CD doesn't work with it without modification.

There is no way to download the flashy creative console application that I'm aware of (other than to aquire an ISO of the Creative X-Fi CD). Creative only makes the bare drivers available on their site which is what you've already discovered.
 
I have an original ISO of the X-Fi installer cd.
It doesn't recognize my card, even WITH applying the popular mod/patch that is floating around the internet that adds several new Vendor ID's.
It still throws an error.

I haven't the CD or modded CD after I got the card successfully working with the drivers from the creative site, but I doubt it will be any different...
 
Another idea, go into the iso (using magicISO or something) and try to find the individual software packages to install... not sure if this would work. I looked at it just for a minute and found multiple setup.exe's in different folders... worth a shot possibly.

SB X-Fi\Audio\EntCntr\setup.exe
Entertainment center setup perhaps?

I'll mess with it a lot when I get it on Tuesday.
 
Search torrent sites for modded X-FI CD. Or search Creative's forums. I had a copy of the CD but I sold my XFI a long time ago.

I guarantee there's a way to get the drivers to work, and to run the software (Volume Panel, etc...) off the install CD, because I bought an OEM Xtrememusic and got it to work.
 
im considering biteing on this, however, im looking for any one that has got it working on vista (sp1 if it matters) please state what you had to go thought to get it working (i know creative was haveing issuse with getting drivers out the door for vista... a -non-creative card + vista could mean trouble.. unless someone knows different)

/edit ehh screw it.. i think im gonna bite any way, and see if i can get it working.. ill let you know..
 
Thore, from what I've seen you should have no problem getting it to work. The tricky thing is getting the extra software from creative to work with it.
 
Got mine today. A little disappointed in the packaging. A padded shipping envelope hardly qualifies as sufficient shipping material for this card.

Anyway, after straightening a few bent pins, I was going to install it. It looks like it takes power from a berg power connector. Anyone know if power is required?
 
Got mine today. A little disappointed in the packaging. A padded shipping envelope hardly qualifies as sufficient shipping material for this card.

Anyway, after straightening a few bent pins, I was going to install it. It looks like it takes power from a berg power connector. Anyone know if power is required?
A padded envelope? lame. Mine came in a 7x8x5" box, inside a static bag, wrapped with bubble wrap like crazy, and plastic cushion bags above and below the card.

but ya, I noticed that small connector also... I connected it before I installed it to see if that's what it was, but it took freaking pliers and an extremely hard pull to get the cable off of the connector... so ya, i didn't think that's what it was for, so I didn't connect it when installing the card.


Oh, and if anyone is able to get the extra software to work with XP, please let me know how you managed to do it.
I even tried a torrent of a modded X-Fi installation CD that claimed to support ALL OEM cards. And it still freaking complains that it's unable to detect a supported product on my system.
I can install Creative MediaSource, but that's not what I want, is it? That's the stupid music management software right?

I even tried running the individual setup.exe files on the cd like Audio\SBMCtr\setup.exe
and they all throw a stupid error.

And every damn program on my computer is closed.
 
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