How does BF2 really sound on X-FI ??

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dave343

dave343

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Ok, so I've been meaning to pick up a new soundcard to replace my onboard soundmax sound. I was just going to get an Audigy 2 but the other night I was in the BF2 settings panel and I saw X-FI under the Audio options. If I got the X-FI is it going to sound much better then the Audigy 2? And what will the audi difference in BF2 be signifigant with the
X-FI?
 
dave343 said:
Ok, so I've been meaning to pick up a new soundcard to replace my onboard soundmax sound. I was just going to get an Audigy 2 but the other night I was in the BF2 settings panel and I saw X-FI under the Audio options. If I got the X-FI is it going to sound much better then the Audigy 2? And what will the audi difference in BF2 be signifigant with the
X-FI?
Click to expand...
If you're speakers aren't up to par, I don't see it as being TOO much better :/
 
When you hear artilery you really have to hit the deck to avoid the popping and crackling that will consume your speakers.
 
So in otherwords no? I have Creative labs 4.1 speakers now but they are 6yrs old. If I bought the X-FI I would also buy the logitec 5500's to go with. No sense in spending money on a good sound card if the speakers arn't there to back it up.
 
yeh that would be nice pair w/ the x-fi. i have a pair of the logitech 5500 on an audigy 2zs pro and they sound amazing.
 
dave343 said:
So in otherwords no? I have Creative labs 4.1 speakers now but they are 6yrs old. If I bought the X-FI I would also buy the logitec 5500's to go with. No sense in spending money on a good sound card if the speakers arn't there to back it up.
Click to expand...

take the money you would spend on speakers and buy some headphones.
 
X-Fi all the way.....You hear things that you would otherwise not hear from any other card.

I really like mine. I upgraded from the Audigy 1.
The headphone suggestion is a good one, too. if you have the privacy for a good 5.1 system, do it.coupled with the X-Fi it will sound really nice.
 
magoo said:
X-Fi all the way.....You hear things that you would otherwise not hear from any other card.

I really like mine. I upgraded from the Audigy 1.
The headphone suggestion is a good one, too. if you have the privacy for a good 5.1 system, do it.coupled with the X-Fi it will sound really nice.
Click to expand...

QFT!
 
We've had tons of systems in our [H] Consumer office running everything from on board to an X-Fi Xtreme Music. While the difference is not as mindblowing as going from on board to an Audigy 2 ZS, I was actually impressed that I COULD notice a tangible difference between the two. If you're looking to go with a Creative card, there's no reason NOT to pony up for an X-Fi.
 
dave343 said:
Ok, so I've been meaning to pick up a new soundcard to replace my onboard soundmax sound. I was just going to get an Audigy 2 but the other night I was in the BF2 settings panel and I saw X-FI under the Audio options. If I got the X-FI is it going to sound much better then the Audigy 2? And what will the audi difference in BF2 be signifigant with the
X-FI?
Click to expand...

My machine plays every game that I currently play (COD2, Q4, Far Cry, D3,) without any issues. However, when I play BF2 with patch 1.2, I still cannot set my in game audio settings to X-Fi - Ultra-Quality without noticing pops through my sennheiser HD580's. The popping sounds occur at the same places throughout the game, such as when hitting the after burner in the aircraft, being near firing artillery, in tanks, etc.

At this point, I have had to set my X-Fi settings to hardware - high quality audio to alleviate the popping noises. At this level, it sounds about the same as the quality of sound from the Audigy 2 ZS card.

B33
 
The XFi and BF2 are an amazing combination; I have a fatality and have been running it on ultra quality, EAX off and was staggered by the difference over an Audigy ZS. Positional audio is better, you hear wind rustling through the grass.....all kinds of crazy stuff that just want there before - or if it was I didnt notice.


The new beta drivers have also made a big difference in fps too.
 
brachy33 said:
My machine plays every game that I currently play (COD2, Q4, Far Cry, D3,) without any issues. However, when I play BF2 with patch 1.2, I still cannot set my in game audio settings to X-Fi - Ultra-Quality without noticing pops through my sennheiser HD580's. The popping sounds occur at the same places throughout the game, such as when hitting the after burner in the aircraft, being near firing artillery, in tanks, etc.

At this point, I have had to set my X-Fi settings to hardware - high quality audio to alleviate the popping noises. At this level, it sounds about the same as the quality of sound from the Audigy 2 ZS card.

B33
Click to expand...

Having both cards I have to disagree with you. I agree with Morley that the difference is NOT day and night. X-Fi just plainly sounds better than Audigy 2 ZS at any similar settings though. The High setting on the X-Fi is just like the A2 ZS since they are both playing 64 voices. Yet the X-Fi's overall sound has more ump or pazazz. More realistic explosions, player sounds still seem localized to that player, better bass management fuller smoother bass response, cleaner highs and the rear sounds are more pronounced. The better the sound system, the easier it is to tell X-Fi from Audigy 2 ZS. The easiest way to see which sounds better is to set BF2 to software mode to remove the EAX Effects completely.

You need X-RAM for the Ultra setting. It stores some of the Data needed to support 128 voice and other stuff mere Sound cards couldn't touch, in the onboard XRAM=P All folks don't get a popping problem, some just have Stuttering. None of the 4 XRAM based cards I've hear suffered from this problem. So I'm thinking it is the lack of it that causes the problem.
 
XLeezardx said:
are you supposed to turn off EAX when using the X-Fi?
Click to expand...

only for comparison, i leave mine on as the superior sound positioning is what im looking for.
 
Running BF2 in Ultra Quality does add "background" type sounds that I cannot hear when playing on high settings or lower. I have heard birds, water noises, and even music coming from some buildings.
 
I have the X-fi platinum and i dont see the "Ultra High Quality" settings for my sound. All i can choose is "high Quality" on BF2. I think i got gipped.
 
i got the plat as well, it has the utra setting it just wont let me choose it. I wonder if thats only for the 64mb x-ram versions.
 
strikeout said:
i got the plat as well, it has the utra setting it just wont let me choose it. I wonder if thats only for the 64mb x-ram versions.
Click to expand...

Did you select the "X-FI" as your renderer and not just "hardware"? ANyway, I have the low end Xtreme Music, so I know it is no an X-Ram related issue.

Also, you MUST be in game mode.
 
Search the creative forums for the solution to the ultra settings and other problems.

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board?board.id=soundblaster&page=3


Make sure you are in game mode and all that jazz.
I have a platinum and it does EAX + Ultra settings no problems.
XtremeMusic and the Platinum are the ones without X-RAM. The ones with are the Fatality and elite pro.
Sound is awesome on my Senns HD 595 when I'm Lanning or GF is watching the tele.
If I am at home alone I use my Logitech Z-2300 and they sound great.
I would get the Z-5500's if I didn't live in an apartment.
I would also get a full stereo setup if I owned a house.

Just some buying tips.
 
No it actually sounds terrible. Everyone was lying about it to trick you Dave!

It was a good conspiracy though.
 
When I got my X-FI I was amazed at the difference in sound in BF 2. Everything sounds so much different and you get all these little audio effects that really add to the realizm. But you definately need some quality speakers or headphones otherwise you wont get what you paid for.
 
strikeout said:
i got the plat as well, it has the utra setting it just wont let me choose it. I wonder if thats only for the 64mb x-ram versions.
Click to expand...

Heres what I found to get the ultra settings to appear.

1. Set your X-Fi card into "Gaming" mode before you start Battlefield 2, otherwise
you won't be able to take advantage of all the Xtreme Fidelity processor's gaming features

2. Turn on the 24-bit Audio Crystalizer, for even crisper, punchier sound effects

3. Make sure that CMSS-3D is set up correctly too!

4. Make sure EAX Effects are turned on

5. In the Battlefield 2 Audio Options screen, select the "Creative X-Fi" Sound
Provider, and set the Audio Quality to "Ultra High".

6. If you're playing on a multi-speaker system, don't forget to run the THX Setup Console application. This allows you to fine-tune your speaker layout for the ultimate Home Theater experience!
- http://www.soundblaster.com/products/x-fi/technology/battlefield2/
 
i have it running now, ocasionally i get crashes to desktop. I never had this prob with hardware/high setting.
 
d0m said:
Heres what I found to get the ultra settings to appear.

1. Set your X-Fi card into "Gaming" mode before you start Battlefield 2, otherwise
you won't be able to take advantage of all the Xtreme Fidelity processor's gaming features

2. Turn on the 24-bit Audio Crystalizer, for even crisper, punchier sound effects

3. Make sure that CMSS-3D is set up correctly too!

4. Make sure EAX Effects are turned on

5. In the Battlefield 2 Audio Options screen, select the "Creative X-Fi" Sound
Provider, and set the Audio Quality to "Ultra High".

6. If you're playing on a multi-speaker system, don't forget to run the THX Setup Console application. This allows you to fine-tune your speaker layout for the ultimate Home Theater experience!
- http://www.soundblaster.com/products/x-fi/technology/battlefield2/
Click to expand...

How to setup the card has been done to death on this forum.
 
To run BF2 in ultra auido mode does it require a X-FI with the 64mb of onboard X-Ram? I can't justify spending 300$ canadian on a sound card so if that's the case maybe I'll go for a Audigy 2 ZS. I would like to spend the $130 for the X-FI xtreme music so I can get better sound in bf2 and other upcoming games but not if to run in ultra audiop modes you will need the 64mb.
 
If you install BF2, you have to reinstall the X-FI drivers, since they share a few files in windows/system32 and the BF2 versions won't work with the X-FI.

Do yourself a favor and use a quality set of fully enclosed headphones. They'll give you better positional audio than any speaker setup out there. I'm constantly upgrading my home theater gear, but I always go back to the headphones for FPS gaming.

I wouldn't upgrade to X-FI just for BF2, but if you're getting a new soundcard, why not? I got the platinum because I like the drivebay panel.

Oh, another BF2+X-FI note, you can't use MIC2 with bf2. When you start the game, it automagically mutes mic2 and switches to mic1, so you have to use the rear mic jack and not the one on the panel. Pain in the rear, wish they fix that in a patch.
 
JonDoms said:
Search the creative forums for the solution to the ultra settings and other problems.

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board?board.id=soundblaster&page=3


Make sure you are in game mode and all that jazz.
I have a platinum and it does EAX + Ultra settings no problems.
XtremeMusic and the Platinum are the ones without X-RAM. The ones with are the Fatality and elite pro.
Sound is awesome on my Senns HD 595 when I'm Lanning or GF is watching the tele.
If I am at home alone I use my Logitech Z-2300 and they sound great.
I would get the Z-5500's if I didn't live in an apartment.
I would also get a full stereo setup if I owned a house.

Just some buying tips.
Click to expand...

You can set to Ultra all you like, you're still not getting the full effects of EAX 5 HD and all 128 voices and Effects at its * best. Not optimal is what I mean. Here's what Creative says.

Creative

Higher-spec X-Fi sound cards (including X-Fi Elite Pro and X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS Edition) feature 64Mb of "X-RAM" - fast SDRAM reserved for storing audio data. Battlefield 2 detects the presence of X-RAM, and automatically moves a large number of audio samples from the system RAM to the sound card. This enhances performance by taking the strain away from your computer's PCI bus and system memory.
Click to expand...

This means that when you're using X-Fi XM or Platinum, the Ultra setting is sending and receiving data from the System's RAM. That's not the bad part but this is. It then has to travel to and from the RAM throught the I/O, PCI BUS and to or from the card. NOT something I want to be doing much of while online gaming buddy. I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm saying if it appears to not slow anything down, it is not setup correct. Windows Task manager showed an already RAM hungrey BF2 eating up 1400MB, this added another 42MB LOL! CPU was already at 100%. I must try this on my Intel rig? PCI BUS maxes out a 33.3MB overall and about 27.5 real world. So that my friend means sound latency as well.
 
d0m said:
Heres what I found to get the ultra settings to appear.

1. Set your X-Fi card into "Gaming" mode before you start Battlefield 2, otherwise
you won't be able to take advantage of all the Xtreme Fidelity processor's gaming features

2. Turn on the 24-bit Audio Crystalizer, for even crisper, punchier sound effects

3. Make sure that CMSS-3D is set up correctly too!

4. Make sure EAX Effects are turned on

5. In the Battlefield 2 Audio Options screen, select the "Creative X-Fi" Sound
Provider, and set the Audio Quality to "Ultra High".

6. If you're playing on a multi-speaker system, don't forget to run the THX Setup Console application. This allows you to fine-tune your speaker layout for the ultimate Home Theater experience!
- http://www.soundblaster.com/products/x-fi/technology/battlefield2/
Click to expand...

That's meant to expand the sound to 7.1 speakers, CMSS 3D is not needed for 5.1 BTW! Crystalizer just adds noise if you have a Higher end sound system.
 
Donnie27 said:
You can set to Ultra all you like, you're still not getting the full effects of EAX 5 HD and all 128 voices and Effects at its * best. Not optimal is what I mean. Here's what Creative says.

Creative



This means that when you're using X-Fi XM or Platinum, the Ultra setting is sending and receiving data from the System's RAM. That's not the bad part but this is. It then has to travel to and from the RAM throught the I/O, PCI BUS and to or from the card. NOT something I want to be doing much of while online gaming buddy. I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm saying if it appears to not slow anything down, it is not setup correct. Windows Task manager showed an already RAM hungrey BF2 eating up 1400MB, this added another 42MB LOL! CPU was already at 100%. I must try this on my Intel rig? PCI BUS maxes out a 33.3MB overall and about 27.5 real world. So that my friend means sound latency as well.
Click to expand...


A8N32 Uses (2) 16X PCI-E lanes!
The extra PCI slot is handled by the extra south bridge which is connected to the northbridge via a 1000mhz link 5 x 200 mhz FSB. The northbridge is also connected to another bus just the same to the CPU. Where my FX-55 controller is along with my memory controller that allocates memory from my (2) GB Dual Channel's worth of fine Corsair Pro memory or If I like I can swap them out and put in my Ballistix tracer.

EITHER FAKKING WAY my machine does not slow down b/c of not having the X-FI Fatality or above. I had the Fatality and I noticed ZERO difference in frame rates using FRAPS on 64 man Karkand.

(2) GB FTW!
 
I asked the comp store near me to just order an Audigy 2 ZS oem for me.
 
Donnie27 said:
You can set to Ultra all you like, you're still not getting the full effects of EAX 5 HD and all 128 voices and Effects at its * best. Not optimal is what I mean. Here's what Creative says.

Creative



This means that when you're using X-Fi XM or Platinum, the Ultra setting is sending and receiving data from the System's RAM. That's not the bad part but this is. It then has to travel to and from the RAM throught the I/O, PCI BUS and to or from the card. NOT something I want to be doing much of while online gaming buddy. I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm saying if it appears to not slow anything down, it is not setup correct. Windows Task manager showed an already RAM hungrey BF2 eating up 1400MB, this added another 42MB LOL! CPU was already at 100%. I must try this on my Intel rig? PCI BUS maxes out a 33.3MB overall and about 27.5 real world. So that my friend means sound latency as well.
Click to expand...

Instead of saying it, why not bench it?

It doesn't affect my FPS, not by even a single frame, fyi. 42MB ram? big deal? CPU at 100%? Got news for you, it should be at 100% on ANY machine playing BF2, not because it needs 100%, but because that is just how windows handles it.

If people bought xram for gaming, i feel sorry for 'em, honestly. :)
 
I run BF2 on X-Fi ultra with my Xtreme Music and I think it runs just fine. I have 2GB of RAM so I am sure that helps. I do not notice any kind of performance decrease if I lower the audio either.
 
JonDoms said:
A8N32 Uses (2) 16X PCI-E lanes!
The extra PCI slot is handled by the extra south bridge which is connected to the northbridge via a 1000mhz link 5 x 200 mhz FSB. The northbridge is also connected to another bus just the same to the CPU. Where my FX-55 controller is along with my memory controller that allocates memory from my (2) GB Dual Channel's worth of fine Corsair Pro memory or If I like I can swap them out and put in my Ballistix tracer.

EITHER FAKKING WAY my machine does not slow down b/c of not having the X-FI Fatality or above. I had the Fatality and I noticed ZERO difference in frame rates using FRAPS on 64 man Karkand.

(2) GB FTW!
Click to expand...

The PCI and PCI-E are TWO SEPARATE buses PCI is connected to the south bridge=P The PCI Cards are slowed down to the slowest common speed, again, that's the frackin' PCI BUS itself. Doesn't matter if you have an FX 500 and PC 3200MHz RAM, that PCI BUS is going to slow down to 33MHz with Bandwidth of 1MB per second=P The reason you wouldn't see a slow down is because the Data is moved from the system RAM to the 64MB of RAM on the Fatality sound card. Same reason Video cards ship with on board RAM.

If you're NOT seeing slowdowns something is not setup correctly=P If the speed of the games stays the same, you'll get;
1. Missing sounds that are not noticed until compared to X-RAM cards.
2. Popping, static, distortion and or noise again, this happens when data is lost or is missing. Chokes at the PCI Bus. That's causes #3.
3. Traffic overload causes a crash and you're kicked back to the desktop.

Now I can't prove it but I have a sneaky feeling the card is defaulting to 64 voice mode in *SOME cases. One more time X-Fi still kicks a$$ when doing 64 voices.
 
It sounds then like it would be a waste even buying the X-FI series unless you got one iwth the X-Ram. From the way it's been put by some it sounds almost the same as if you were to buy a 7800GTX with 64mb video ram. I'll see how the Audigy 2 ZS runs I ordered because it alone has to be better then my onboard SoundMax integrated.
 
Donnie27 said:
If you're NOT seeing slowdowns something is not setup correctly=P If the speed of the games stays the same, you'll get;
1. Missing sounds that are not noticed until compared to X-RAM cards.
2. Popping, static, distortion and or noise again, this happens when data is lost or is missing. Chokes at the PCI Bus. That's causes #3.
3. Traffic overload causes a crash and you're kicked back to the desktop.

Now I can't prove it but I have a sneaky feeling the card is defaulting to 64 voice mode in *SOME cases. One more time X-Fi still kicks a$$ when doing 64 voices.
Click to expand...

It sounds like all 128 voices are there.
I never hear any cracking or pops.
Never crashed to the desktop with the card.

-The [H]ard|Forum Rules:

(1) Absolutely NO FLAMING, NAME CALLING OR PERSONAL ATTACKS. Mutual respect and civilized conversation is the required norm. ---- magnetik

X-RAM does NOT make a difference. I benched it myself and listened to the sounds with my Senn HD595. They both sound the same and I get over 50fps with both cards.
I have a 7800GTX with a Dell 2405 and all my settings are maxed.
 
---- removed quoted flame --- magnetik

The first rule of posting on a forum is never assume anything, you might end up being the first 3 letters of the word assume. I'd never buy a Fatality, I own a X-Fi Xtreme and may get the Platinum for my other computer. I need MICs (2 for guitars) and headphones at the same time.

1. After I rolled on the F$#%&^ Floor Laughing My Motha F&^W%G G%#^&@* A$$ OFF Long and Loud. Elitest, Idiot? :confused: I must tell you there's nothing about me being an elitest since I ONLY own an X-Fi Xtreme Music.

2. I'd more than likely agree that just buying Fatality for BF2 and Quake4 is a joke. By the time X-RAM is fully supported, there'll be X-Fi 2 or 3 for sale. But on these games it rocks.

3. Calling folks names on this Forum is a NO NO even when thinly vailed by an if, like, maybe or etc..,

My buds and I tested;
6 computers
6 sets of cans
3 receivers with different kinds of speakers
3 different cards, no Elite Pro

FPS drops were from 3 to 20 FPS depending on settings. The worst of these were with 3DHeaphones and BF2 with Ultra High setting.

We all only agreed on one thing, that BattleField 2 in 3DHeadphone mode, SUCKED compared to receivers and speakers! We also tested 595s and I liked the Beyer DT 770 Pro better. They got spanked by a true 5.1 Receivers and half assed decent speakers each time, WITH GAMES in 5.1 mode.
 
dave343 said:
It sounds then like it would be a waste even buying the X-FI series unless you got one iwth the X-Ram. From the way it's been put by some it sounds almost the same as if you were to buy a 7800GTX with 64mb video ram. I'll see how the Audigy 2 ZS runs I ordered because it alone has to be better then my onboard SoundMax integrated.
Click to expand...

Not at all, X-Fi XM still sounds better IMHO. I'm Glad I bought mine and might add another (But a Platinum model) for the computer Downd stairs in my Den (replace an Audigy 2 ZS). BF2 is the only thing in question here. There's Zero difference for 98% of the games on the market when it comes to X-RAM and the 3 bottom cards. If there were no BF2 or Quake 4, XRAM would be a Gimmick instead of being close to one now.

X-Fi Extreme Music has no peers in its price range IMHO.

Yes, Audigy 2 ZS crushes SoundMax and Azealia too IMO.
 
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