Nucleus Posted May 5, 2007 Posted May 5, 2007 Hey all, I'm currently in the process of building a new PC. The thing is, I cant use my old soundcard any more (for one, I hear crackling at full volume, for another: I need a coaxial/digital input for my new headphones (X-TATIC 5.1). Basically, these are the 5 to consider... I think (any other suggestions?). • Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic • Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional Series • Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum • Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty • Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro The cards above are the only cards capable of coaxial/digital input. The cards in bold are a leap up in price range as they come with an X-Fi I/O Drive Upgrade: The Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic and the X-Fi Extreme Gamer Fatal1ty are not in bold as they comes on their own (there is another upgrade to give it coaxial/optical input – see below). None of the cards above actually have build in coaxial/digital inputs but need an extension such as the one above (the x-fi extreme gamer normal version is not compatible with any of these). There is a cheaper version of the upgrade kit above which is simply a coaxial/digital input/output extension: Sound Blaster Digital I/O Module. Therefore, I would ideally like to get the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music or the X-Fi Extreme Gamer Fatal1ty along with the Sound Blaster Digital I/O Module (not sure what the differences are - any ideas?) That is unless you guys can highly recommend one of the others over the X-Fi Xtreme Music. Basically, I would really like to know the differences between each card. (n.b. The new PC will be for high quality gaming and music, therefore this choice is quite important for me) Thanks guys.
Caris Posted May 5, 2007 Posted May 5, 2007 The Fatal1ty has more ram but isnt worth the money. I have the Xtreme music and it really is awsome.
Bogbas Posted May 5, 2007 Posted May 5, 2007 I'd go for the platinum, it has a volume control knob on the io- drive. I don't have a keyboard that has volume adjustment keys, so I like that feature Seems that the platinum is the same as xtreme music + io-drive? I still have audigy 2 platinum ex, it has more than enough features and inputs/outputs. It also has microphone pre- amp so there's no need for using software to boost the mic's volume. The IO- drive seems to have all those features that are on my external console.
Guest Jordan Posted May 5, 2007 Posted May 5, 2007 I have the Fatality, i completely agree with Caris... it ain't worth the money. The extra 'ram' has little baring on frame rate or sound quality in games, not to mention only 2 games support it: BF2 and BF2142.
Nucleus Posted May 7, 2007 Author Posted May 7, 2007 Alright, thanks for the help guys I'm pretty sure i'm going to go for the Xtreme Music. However :shock:, I have had one or two people recommend this to me: http://www.auzentech.com/site/company/press.php - The Auzen X-FI Prelude 7.1. Sounds fantastic, but then again, I've never really thought about anything other than Creative soundcards. The card isn't out yet, but should I go for the music, or wait for this? Thanks again .
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