X-Fi Extreme Audio PCI-e

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magoo

[H]F Junkie
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Oct 21, 2004
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Anybody here use the Creative X-Fi extreme audio PCI-e version????

I am soon to do some additions to my 680i MB and will loose the PCI slot my X-Fi extreme music is in. All I'll have is a PCI-e x 1 slot left. Now my MB came with an add-in card for sound, Supreme FX (ASUS) or some such.......but I'm willing to buy the extreme audio if it would be worth the investment in quality over the ASUS card.

Anybody got one????
 
The Xtreme Audio isn't a the same as a 'real' X-Fi card like your Xtreme Music.

I'm just going to rip the whole entry from Wikipedia here:
X-Fi Xtreme Audio
The entry-level model of the X-Fi series, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, does not actually have the EMU20K1 chip but is a re-branded Audigy SE, using the same family of chips (CA0106-WBTLF), and even the same drivers. Thus, not only is all of the X-Fi–related processing performed in software, but it also lacks basic hardware acceleration just the like SB Live! 24 bit, the Audigy SE and other budget Soundblaster models. The X-Fi Xtreme Audio does not use the same drivers as the rest of the X-Fi family, some games do not recognize it as being "X-Fi capable hardware", and the device's hardware profile resembles that of older Live! and Audigy cards. Furthermore, users have reported that it slows down some applications and games. Thus, even if the card is marketed as part of the X-Fi line, it does not belong to it technically, just like the Audigy SE doesn't technically belong to the Sound Blaster Audigy series. The card is not marketed as supporting the "X-Fi Gaming Mode" (but is still marketed as "X-Fi"), and there are no official implicit or explicit statements regarding its having hardware acceleration or not.
Click to expand...
 
Of course if you absolutely need a sound card that has a PCIe interface your options are essentially limited to the Xtreme Audio or the much more expensive Asus Xonar D2X. I have doubts that the Xtreme Audio would be better in any way than the cheap HD audio card included with that board.
 
Yeah, I just installed mine. I noticed there's more CPU usage resulting from it than compared to my Audigy 1.

Oh well. Quad Core FTW.
 
I use a pci-express Xfi Audio in my system and it has been fine in both XP and Vista 32bit. The chipset on the sound card is not the CA0106, it is a CA0110 chip. I am real happy with the card.
 
Diseaseboy said:
I use a pci-express Xfi Audio in my system and it has been fine in both XP and Vista 32bit. The chipset on the sound card is not the CA0106, it is a CA0110 chip. I am real happy with the card.
Click to expand...
Irrelevant. No CA20K1/EMU20k1, no care.

Still you have no hardware acceleration, might as well save your money and use onboard.
 
No..I have openal support and alchemy support now in Vista with the X-fi audio. Without benchmarking you wouldn't know the difference between the X-fi audio or X-fi gamer with my 2.1 speaker setup.

The pci-express card will allow me to get another 8800GTX down the road and I wasn't taking a chance with a X-fi gamer because of the crackle/pop issue with my nforce4 motherboard.
 
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