X-fi?

[nvening]

How has an X-Fi here? Im looking at the £100 normal one, or should i get the breakout box one? What does the breakout box do?

Is it worth it? I listen to alot of music on my PC and am gaming (in BF2 which has an x-fi mode)

Is it worth my £100?

[Tobeman]

I'm intending to go for the one up, the Fatal1ty, as it features X-RAM and i've read good things about it I dont think theres much difference between my Audigy 2 ZS and the X-Fi Music, and I want something to add to the expense of my new speakers.. honest I do

[probspot]

Just bought an X-Fi Platinum, replacing my old SB Live! Very happy with it, plus with the platinum you get the breakout box which has a load of I/O sockets and full size headphone Jack (Which is nice since i have some Sennheiser HD-25 from my Djing days). As for sound quality - it's better, with the headphones for sure. Was tempted to go for a Fatal1ty but the aditional price for 64Mb of RAM seemed a bit steep and only a few games are currently using X-RAM, BF2 being one i believe.

[DR]

Our review may well go live today

[nameinuse]

Just in time! I've been considering whether to get the normal one or the fatal1ty one (much as I hate buying fatal1ty branded hardware), given that it'll get used lots with BF2 and some Sennheiser H595s most of the time...

It'll be interesting to see if the framerate improvements Creative have been claiming really come true, too. I remember BF1942 having some serious issues with sound and soundcards, and having to turn everything right down to get it playable.

[DR]

[OmarSantiago]

I'm looking forward to this write-up now: I've managed to hold off buying the ones with X-RAM simply because I don't know how widespread the takeup will be. In the same vein that only a handful of games ever take full advantage of cutting-edge graphics technologies in the first year of a new card's introduction so I'm doubtful I'll get a good performance from a new card. That said, anyone can show me any different and I'm buying the card straight-off, red wristband and all.

[nvening]

custompc say xram is not worth it.

[RavenNight]

I have a mate with faaar to much cash to burn, he got hold of the fatality x-fi and said it dind't make all that much difference to his old Sound blaster 2 ZS. Frankly unless your doing recording or something I don't see much point, spend the cash on improving the system elsewhere, you'll get a much bigger performance increase.

[nvening]

Hmmmmmm, mabe another gig of ram

2x512 balistix for £115 mabe.

[Hans Voralberg]

2G of Ram surely will make a difference

[Kef9]

2 gig of ram does make a difference. I couldnt belive the difference from 1gb

games run so much smoother!

[Kef9]

Does X-Fi make a difference? Ive got an Audigy 2 ZS so will there be a noticeable benifit. I only use my pc to play a bit of music when im on the computer and when im playing games.

Is it worth upgrading?

[probspot]

Is it worth upgrading?

Probably not from an Audigy 2 ZS.

[Kef9]

didnt think so.

Ive heard rumours that the difference is really noticeable.

Has anyone upgraded from the ZS to the x-fi and what is there opinion?

What sort of difference are we talking about for in game frame rates between the 2 cards?

[probspot]

Don't get me wrong, the x-fi is a fine card, i have one (not x-ram version). But i don't think the jump from an Audigy 2 to an x-fi is going to see you a big performace gain. As for an audible gain....i doubt you'll be able to tell.

If you went for the x-ram version maybe the improvement is more, but then as above....who knows if it'll be taken on board by developers??