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vandyl |
Location: Madison, AL |
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Post subject: XFi... why why why
Posted: Nov 22, 2009 - 10:52 PM
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G0dlike
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 651
Location: Madison, AL
Status: Offline
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Dear Creative,
Please stop producing shitty drivers and blaming performance issues on nForce chipsets.
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In all seriousness, the drivers that Creative has been pushing out for the XFi series have been substandard at best. I've had issues with the XFi ExtremeGamer Fatal1ty soundcard I bought... oh... a year ago? Maybe a little longer than that.
Back when it was brand new, running on the drivers provided with the hardware, I'd have occasional crackling and popping sound in various games (CoD4, for example). I figured a driver update would fix that. (It didn't. None of the updates helped.) In fact, the problem seemed to get worse.
Not to mention that the card just flat out won’t run in Windows 7 (64bit) – some games have sound, some have it for a few minutes and it craps out, and some (like Solitaire) take down the entire sound system altogether, requiring a reboot to restore sound.
I researched the issue and discovered a lot of conflicting information. Creative claimed that the PCI cards have known issues when running on nForce boards, while users pointed their fingers at the drivers, reasoning that the chips and hardware of the Audigy2 experienced no such issues. The XFi series is actually based on the same architecture as the Audigy2. Ultimately, there’s been no real resolution for owners of the first generation of PCI-based XFi soundcards.
I picked up an XFi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional from BestBuy today – funny story btw. The Titanium series is PCI-E, and is equipped with different chips on the board (except for the main sound processor). Installed the board and drivers in Windows XP, fired up CoD4 – and YES! There is no more popping and crackling! SUCCESS! Wish I didn’t have to swap my card out to get rid of that issue. Hence my letter to Creative.
I’ve installed the drivers in Windows 7, but haven’t playtested it yet. I’ll update this with the results.
Long story short – if you want to get an XFi card, and have an nForce board with a PCI-E x1 slot, get a Titanium series.
AND PLEASE! IF YOU HAVE AN XFi SOUNDCARD AND A NON-NFORCE MOTHERBOARD, LET ME KNOW IF YOU’VE HAD THE SAME ISSUES! |
_________________ PhukFace: what d you get 72 virgins?
vandyl: yeah. unfortunately they were all members of either au gamers, au society of anime and manga, or both.
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kurtmax_0 |
Location: |
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Post subject: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Nov 23, 2009 - 12:46 PM
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Color-Swapped Ninja
Joined: Oct 23, 2005
Posts: 1083
Status: Offline
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Creative hasn't been good since.... ever. You either need to use onboard sound (most games are tested with this since 99% of people have this) or get a real professional sound card (something with ASIO at least). |
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Bandit |
Location: Madison Alabama |
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Post subject: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Nov 24, 2009 - 02:04 AM
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G0dlike
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 855
Location: Madison Alabama
Status: Offline
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I have an Xfi card. Know what I did with it.... put it on my desk. Fact is without the frigging front mount crap you can't easily get to all the functions of the card. 1 digital in/out/multi port on the card, 4+ capable to be driven by the card if you just have the pinouts the front mount adds. How much for the front mount you ask? Try $100 dollars over the retail of just the card.
I was a creative fan boy. I love their audio processing, but quit milking me with pinouts that's just wrong. I DON'T want to front mount everything.
So back to internal sound. I'll put that extra money into my rig. |
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vandyl |
Location: Madison, AL |
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Post subject: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Nov 24, 2009 - 11:36 AM
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G0dlike
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 651
Location: Madison, AL
Status: Offline
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just an fyi - the pci-e xfi and win7(64) get along just fine. |
_________________ PhukFace: what d you get 72 virgins?
vandyl: yeah. unfortunately they were all members of either au gamers, au society of anime and manga, or both.
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PhukFace |
Location: |
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Post subject: Re: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Nov 24, 2009 - 06:30 PM
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Color-Swapped Ninja
Joined: Jul 06, 2005
Posts: 1103
Status: Offline
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kurtmax_0 wrote:
Creative hasn't been good since.... ever. You either need to use onboard sound (most games are tested with this since 99% of people have this) or get a real professional sound card (something with ASIO at least).
that statement is bs.....
they used to be excellent and the ONLY choice if you were serious about quality...
then 2004 came along and have slowly been going down hill since....
and yes it is what vandyls is stating, support/drivers are absolute shit. |
_________________ She's Einstein, Her head is the greatest...
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vandyl |
Location: Madison, AL |
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Post subject: RE: Re: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Nov 24, 2009 - 10:57 PM
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G0dlike
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 651
Location: Madison, AL
Status: Offline
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I always knew you were my nigga.
Not ERRRRRR!!!! |
_________________ PhukFace: what d you get 72 virgins?
vandyl: yeah. unfortunately they were all members of either au gamers, au society of anime and manga, or both.
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kurtmax_0 |
Location: |
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Post subject: Re: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Nov 26, 2009 - 12:43 AM
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Color-Swapped Ninja
Joined: Oct 23, 2005
Posts: 1083
Status: Offline
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PhukFace wrote:
kurtmax_0 wrote:
Creative hasn't been good since.... ever. You either need to use onboard sound (most games are tested with this since 99% of people have this) or get a real professional sound card (something with ASIO at least).
that statement is bs.....
they used to be excellent and the ONLY choice if you were serious about quality...
then 2004 came along and have slowly been going down hill since....
and yes it is what vandyls is stating, support/drivers are absolute shit.
Ever heard of Gravis? Ultrasound? Try again.
It wasn't as popular as Creative, but had far superior sound quality. Most of the demos of that time utilise the ultrasound. It's main problem was lack of support on some games and shoddy sound-blaster emulation.
Try this exercise:
Play Dark Forces in DOSBox with sound-blaster, and then try it with ultrasound... which one is superior? |
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PhukFace |
Location: |
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Post subject: RE: Re: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Dec 01, 2009 - 06:54 PM
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Color-Swapped Ninja
Joined: Jul 06, 2005
Posts: 1103
Status: Offline
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why use does box when I actually have a DOS box (pre P4 ... )...
anyways youre point is invalid, ask anyone besides the person looking back at you from the mirror....
btw, gravis was shite and you know it... |
_________________ She's Einstein, Her head is the greatest...
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kurtmax_0 |
Location: |
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Post subject: RE: Re: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Dec 01, 2009 - 09:13 PM
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Color-Swapped Ninja
Joined: Oct 23, 2005
Posts: 1083
Status: Offline
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Well we can disagree then. Gravis had far superior sound quality, even if it was less compatible with a majority of games than a sound blaster. |
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vandyl |
Location: Madison, AL |
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Post subject: RE: Re: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Dec 01, 2009 - 11:10 PM
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G0dlike
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 651
Location: Madison, AL
Status: Offline
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I swear I had a post in this thread. and I think it got deleted... |
_________________ PhukFace: what d you get 72 virgins?
vandyl: yeah. unfortunately they were all members of either au gamers, au society of anime and manga, or both.
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Yeongung |
Location: |
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Post subject: RE: Re: RE: XFi... why why why
Posted: Dec 04, 2009 - 03:08 AM
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Moderator
Joined: Nov 11, 2009
Posts: 26
Status: Offline
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Errr...
Nah, nothing got deleted, as far as I can tell...
Aaaa... |
_________________ With Kimchi, and Zergrush!
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