• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Which soundcard would you recommend?

Which sound card would you recommend?

  • Soundblaster X-FI Elite Pro

    Votes: 2 3.9%

  • Soundblaster X-FI Fatal1ty

    Votes: 6 11.8%

  • Soundblaster X-FI Platinum

    Votes: 8 15.7%

  • Soundblaster X-FI XtremeMusic

    Votes: 25 49.0%

  • Other (please state)

    Votes: 10 19.6%
  • Total voters
    51
My budeget is around £100 or around $200. Maybe a little more (LITTLE). Im using it for my creative 5.1 surround sound which is currently connected to my motherboards onboard sound - motherboard is an Asus a8n sli premium by the way - do you think it would be worth it to buy one of these sound cards or should i just stick with my onboard sound?
 
Unless the Platinum is on sale.... the Xtreme Music should be awesome enough for you.

I use it on my system and it's perfectly adept at handling even the most expensive speakers/setups.
 
loads of extra inputs and outputs, including Optical, SPDIF, RCA phono etc
You also get knobs for volume etc, and a remote control.

You do need a spare floppy connector to power the panel (or a molex with the supplied adapter). My PC case is a rat's nest as it is, so I decided not to bother with it, and went for the XtremeMusic.
 
Id like to see some pics of the front pannel on your pc - ive seen all the professioanl photos of this but id like to see ones connected up - even a link would be cool as well, thanks for the responses, i know its definately going to be the X-FI Xtreme music but its just wether i should get the front pannel as well (platinum version).
 
bataferd0073qt.jpg


 
That looks sweet. To be honest guys, the platinum is too much for me and to be honest, i cannot guarantee me using the ports on the front pannel anyways so im just going to get the X-FI xtrememusic card. Just need to try and find out which place sells it the cheapest (Im from the UK by the way so if there is anyone out there who could recommend a place that does it cheap then please comment).
 
Since basically only battlefield 2 really uses x-ram or whatever, and the card is still dope with out it, go for the cheap one ;)
 
When you say dope do you mean good?

See, you can tell im still learning :)
 
Wots good about the fatal1ty then, i read something about the xram thing but is this really meant for every game or is it just one or two. I wouldnt say im a hardcore gamer, i just play really AOE 3, doom 3, some sims games, roller coaster tycoon 3 (these might not be the games you have in mind but for some strange reason i like them). I mainly listen to music alot which is why im considering the xtrememusic card.

Is there a huge difference between the cards overall?

All i need now are some decent headphones - preferably 5.1 surround sound headphones - can anyone recommend any?
 
AY786 said:
All i need now are some decent headphones - preferably 5.1 surround sound headphones - can anyone recommend any?
Click to expand...

wow, thats a can of worms. search over at headfi.com to see all the worms.
 
AY786 said:
Is there a huge difference between the cards overall?
Click to expand...

Not really.

XtremeMusic = basic card
Platinum = basic card + front panel
Fatality = card with X-RAM + panel
Elite Pro = card with X-RAM and better D/A converters + external breakout box (more features than panel)
 
meatfestival said:
Not really.

XtremeMusic = basic card
Platinum = basic card + front panel
Fatality = card with X-RAM + panel
Elite Pro = card with X-RAM and better D/A converters + external breakout box (more features than panel)
Click to expand...

Questions:
Does the Fatality sound any better than the Platinum? Are the components better on the Fatality, or does it just have x-ram? Is x-ram purely for a performance boost or does it add to the quality? So if i have a decent PC already, do i even need the x-ram?
 
X-ram has not yet proven to improver performance 1fps is not enough, almost no game has implemented x-ram and you will not hear any difference in sound from the plat to the fatl1ty (cough rip off). X-Ram stands for Xtreme Ramming, thats what you feel behind after you ponny up for this worthless feature. I
 
DeadByDawn said:
Questions:
Does the Fatality sound any better than the Platinum? Are the components better on the Fatality, or does it just have x-ram? Is x-ram purely for a performance boost or does it add to the quality? So if i have a decent PC already, do i even need the x-ram?
Click to expand...

fatality/xm/plat all have the same DAC chips and opamps. So yeah they sound the same. The front panel does have a tiny amp in it, but its very marginal. Like even half the power of a cmoy if that. In fact forget i said it even had an amp, because its that less of issue.
 
strikeout said:
fatality/xm/plat all have the same DAC chips and opamps. So yeah they sound the same. The front panel does have a tiny amp in it, but its very marginal. Like even half the power of a cmoy if that. In fact forget i said it even had an amp, because its that less of issue.
Click to expand...

Another question:

Will i get better sound plugging headphones in to the Fatal1ty front panel, or the control box my Klipsch 5.1 speakers have?

Thanks for your replies.
 
Unless you strap it to an Elite Pro you won't hear any difference between music, plat and fatl versions.
 
Is there a differnece between x-fi xtrememusic cards with the OEM and the original versions. I have the OEM but i do not have the audio console that is shown on the website, just a basic one. I didnt know this would happen, i thought theyd all be the same just the OEM has no box?
 
there are not many titles that use X-RAM, but there are some such as Quake 4, BF2 and Prey. Dedicated onboard memory just for sounds makes sense to me and that's why I decided for Fatal1ty card. I admit I might be an overkill for the time being but I am not planning on an upgrade anytime soon.
 
Chaintec AV-710

cheap and sounds good = win

if not then the cheapest x-fi, they all pretty much have the same hardware anyway
 
Regarding the front panel, I am probably going to only use it for the headphone jack. But will the remote control's features make it worth the $70 for the upgrade? Also, what are all of the front panel ports for (specifically, what plugs into them?)? I already have all of my audio connections hooked in the back of my sound card. What are the chances I will need to use the front panel other than for headphones?
 
The X-Fi Fatal1ty is on sale at newegg for $199 right now. Might be a good time to jump on it. I did :) .

Geek
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top