Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty $99.99

[Hambergler]

Fys.com has the Creative Soundblaster X-Fi for $149.99 - $50 MIR = $99.99 (free shipping)
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4559427

Fillable Rebate Form
http://forums.slickdeals.net/attachm...6&d=1169819088

Nice

[Zid]

why so much for a sound card?... can anyone actually tell the difference between an Audigy 2 and a new X-Fi?

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by Zid

why so much for a sound card?... can anyone actually tell the difference between an Audigy 2 and a new X-Fi?

The folks here that have 'em sure say they can. I think the X-Fi removes a LOT of pressure from the CPU.

[=Sarc=]

It comes with a front panel and the card has X-Ram. If you get the X-Fi Gamer, it's a lot cheaper because it doesn't have those extras.

[jaymind]

Originally Posted by Zid

why so much for a sound card?... can anyone actually tell the difference between an Audigy 2 and a new X-Fi?

I bought the x-fi xtreme gamer at www.mwave for $69 about 1 1/2 weeks ago and I can tell a major difference between it and my old audigy 2. No question in my mind that the sound is much better from the x-fi.

What's really sweet is that the x-fi has a bass cutoff freq which really cleans up the sound coming from the smaller speakers while thumping up the bass nicely.

[TychoCelchuuu]

But keep in mind the Fatal1ty is an overpriced X-Fi, because of all that X-RAM crap that no games actually use. Any other X-Fi is a better buy.

[Acreo Aeneas]

My Audigy LS has bass cutoff frequency as well ...although it did cost me $40 about 3 years ago.

Last I saw, the XtremeGamer X-Fi also has X-Ram, just not as much as the Fatal1ty.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Yeah, the gamer has like 2 megs or 64 megs or something of X-Ram, and the Fatal1ty has 128. Overkill imho.

[Boot]

The Fatality version is branded with some dweeb's name on it. The price difference is royalty and branding. I bought the XtremeGamer version for a lot less money. I was settling for this... what I wanted was the XtremeMusic which was out of stock forever and may be discontinued. It appears the only difference though was a Midi port (which would be lost on me).

One word of caution for anyone looking to buy though -- there are some issues with Nvidia 680i boards and especially Asus boards running in SLI. Audio pops, crackles, and what has become known as the Screech of Death are common on these boards when using X-Fi cards. I'm a sufferer. I'm not saying don't buy one; I agree that the in-game sound is better than my Audigy 2. Just do some reading on the Creative forums and maybe your mobo manufacturer's forums first so you go into it with open eyes.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Well, no, that's not the only difference; the Fatal1ty has more X-RAM, which basically doesn't help, at least at this point in time. But you're not paying more just for branding.

[WhiskeySix]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

The folks here that have 'em sure say they can. I think the X-Fi removes a LOT of pressure from the CPU.

Actually, all the Audigy's pull the sound processing off the CPU, since they all have a DSP on-board. That's what checking the [x] Hardware box does...

The difference is that the X-Fi cards have a DSP that's more robust (can operate on more sampling-rates) and is a lot more powerful. It has extra horsepower to render effects on more channels, and it can run more advanced algorithms, specifically CMSS-3D.

I've not heard the difference myself, but this is certainly an interesting offer.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by WhiskeySix

Actually, all the Audigy's pull the sound processing off the CPU, since they all have a DSP on-board. That's what checking the [x] Hardware box does...

Couldn't you say that about any sound card?

The difference is that the X-Fi cards have a DSP that's more robust (can operate on more sampling-rates) and is a lot more powerful. It has extra horsepower to render effects on more channels, and it can run more advanced algorithms, specifically CMSS-3D.

I've not heard the difference myself, but this is certainly an interesting offer.

So, what does the X-RAM do, then?

[WhiskeySix]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Couldn't you say that about any sound card?

Absolutely - Just about every sound card available these days will have a DSP on it... the whole 'extra loading for the CPU' thing really isn't an issue these days provided if you're using an external sound card. Back when the earth was cooling, sound cards would only have the ADC's and DACs (digital<-->analog converters) on them.... Today, you generally have that situation on your motherboard. So, if you are using "on board sound" then you're using the CPU to render sound effects and the motherboard for conversion. Likewise, having Software [x] checked will use the CPU for rendering and just use the the sound-card's converters.

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

So, what does the X-RAM do, then?

The short answer: it allows "better" effects. X-RAM is just a marketing name for some additional local RAM they put on the X-fi cards for use during effects processing... (so it isn't bottlenecked by waiting for RAM on the other side of the motherboard)

The long answer: Most audio effects, especially spatialization/reverberation effects like CMSS, require a "history" of the last few seconds of sound to be available in memory.... for example, a simple reverb ("echo") algorithm works by combining what's playing now (the sound coming directly from the source) with attenuated versions of what was played 'before' (sound that was delayed getting to you because it had go up and bounce off the ceiling first). So at any point in time, you're listening to something like this:

sample(N) + 0.5*sample(N-5) + 0.25*sample(N-10)

For a more refined effect, you need to blend more samples, which necessitates a longer 'sound history' to draw from... Pictures here if you're curious about this kind of thing.

[CingularDuality]

Ah, makes sense...

Thanks!

[Tonk]

Originally Posted by TychoCelchuuu

Yeah, the gamer has like 2 megs or 64 megs or something of X-Ram, and the Fatal1ty has 128. Overkill imho.

i remember waaaay back... when i started seeing the specs for games requiring x-mb dedicated graphic ram... i was like LOLOMG... but now.. it is the number that means the most (well.. almost) in a gaming rig...
i see audio ram.. and im like .. LOLOMG