Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

[N2K]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

well that too, but is it a big jump from what i have?

anyways, ims till going to buy it, same price i bought my current card before, and go exchange my headset

[Uncleadolph]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Is there a large BF2 performance increase between a fatal1ty FPS and an xtreme music and how much better is the FPS's quality?

-Ben

[N2K]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

im getting low 70fps and high at 99fps

ill tell ya when i get my sound card

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

I'm curious as well. I'm looking to get a sound card but there's a lot of bad reviews on Newegg. I don't mean "this card sucks because it didn't clean my room" kind of reviews, I mean ones that sound like the people know what they're talking about. But who knows. I'm willing to spend $300+ on a sound card if it sounds great and helps fps/stuttering, but I'm afraid that either nothing will happen and I'll have wasted the money, or it'll actually make my system worse!

[claevade]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

The difference between the Audigy2ZS and X-Fi in FPS isn't existing. Since when using the ZS you stay on Hardware and with X-FI you use the X-FI variant. The last one gives better sound, but you won't notice a real FPS increase if you already got a descent soundcard like the Audigy2 ZS.

[N2K]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

i dont use Hardware settings, because some sounds dont work

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

yeah that's the hard part. I really want it for a peformance boost. I only occasionally get sound glitches and it's only in BF2 and only when I'm online, and only when I'm commander. Beats the hell out of me. The only time I have problems online are when I'm commander. I've actually had my system restart without so much as an blue screen showing the error, and I turned off automatic restart. Whenever that happens, it's when I'm pressing capslock to check if the airstrike I hear is coming my way or not. Sorry to go slightly off topic, but you can see how I got there...

But yeah, I'd like at least 10fps for the $300 cost tag of an X-fi or $200 Audigy. Then again I'd also like a stripper to deliver it but a man can only ask for so many miracles in one day right?

[N2K]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

plus it makes sound through earphones feel like a 7.1 set up, it was done with an awsome demo, and since im always listening to music then it will sound cool, they said the card converts alll sound back to its original 24bits, better than a cd its self

[Papi4baby]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Go to the creative forums, there is suppose to be a performance increase, but they been having driver problems, so actually people are getting less performance. Read up boys.

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

I've read through the creative forums and always start with the negative comments in Newegg, but c'mon, show me any piece of equipment and I'll show you tons of negative feedback online. I think it's safe to say most people think Raptors are "the best drives" to have for typical gaming, but there'll be plenty of you reading this post saying "that's bull!". Asking in these forums is a little like going to a friends house who has what you want, and trying it out for yourself. I trust the posters here a little more than annonymous elsewhere-interneters (nice word huh?). At least I can interact with people instead of reading weeks old posts and hoping they're still reading.

I guess what I'm saying, is that for the life of me I can't seem to find which soundcard is "the best". I'm willing to lay down my hard earned money if the card is worth it, but theres complainers for every card. If I were to go by all the negative forums posts, I'd say that getting a sound card is just about the worst idea you could have.

No peformance increase.
Onboard audio sounds fine.
Card can cause lag.
Card can crash game.
Card has glitchy sound.

So what's the point? *sigh*

[Lanserschrek]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Hi there,

If there is any way you could test an X-Fi card with your hardware before you purchase it I'd highly recommend you do it, this is definitely a "let the buyer beware" type scenario. I just got suckered in by the hype. I got the X-Fi XtremeMusic the instant it came out, was highly anticipating it's release for months ever since I first saw X-Fi in Bf2's audio settings and instantly set to googling what it was. I gotta tell you I was mighty impressed with the quality of sound all around, I had just gotten Z-5500 speakers too. And as for when I first used it in BF2 too it blew me away, the sound just adds a whole new dimension to it, so much more detail. However I slowly noticed an extreme decrease in framerate and a plentiful increase in stuttering and sudden sluggishness. At the time I didn't attribute this to the sound card and let the problem slide using it as pretext to get a new pc around Christmas as my old PC was a 3 year old P4 2.6ghz with an AGP motherboard. So for a few months I put up with the poor video quality to get my bf2 fix.

Along came the new dual core PC before Xmas, BF2 ran with impressive framerates, good stability and smoothness but didn't look quiet as good with the included video card as the card in my old pc was a 6800GT. Anyway I had purchased a 256mb 7800GT for the new pc and used the opportunity of opening it up to put in my X-Fi card as well. Of course the sound was highly impressive and absorbing once more, top notch seeming to make BF2 come alive once again. Then came the let down, the framerates with my 7800 gt were consistently hovering between 40-50fps and sometimes even lower, Special Forces on the Iron gator map could definitely be labelled unplayable. I went through every combinaton of new,old, tweaked Nvidia driver, ensuring they were cleanly removed each time with Drive Cleaner pro but the Framerate stayed pretty consistent with a poor performance, then the stuttering started to appear.

Anyway I only recently discovered there is a very active thread on the Creative forums about the X-Fi series and BF2 specifically.

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=32566&view=by_date_ascending&page=82

My graphics stuttering issue was resolved by the suggestion of deleting the dmp and cache files. It seems BF2 needs this when you change graphics settings. However my framerate was pitifully poor (playable but well below expectations!) for a 7800gt no matter whether the graphics were set to Low, Medium or High. But at least gameplay was smooth enough again. Seeing as I'd never actually tried BF2 on the new pc without having used the X-Fi card I decided to do it this evening when I saw this thread. I disabled the X-Fi card and fell back on the motherboards poor attempt at delivering 7.1 audio, in fact hardware audio had to be forgot soon enough due to poor quality in Bf2 and I fell back on Software instead. I tested some singlepayer games first with a dramatic increase in framerate and then did what I consider to be a worthy test, try it out on a few full 64 player servers with varying pings in various areas.

Anyway framerates were now conistently in the 70s, basically it fluctuated from low 60s up through 80s but tended to lie in the 70s mainly. So for me it confirms what I feared, the X-Fi card was the source of my low framerate all along. Whether it is the drivers or the hardware I have no idea and the thread in the Creative forums as yet offers no real hope and seems to be growing endlessly. There is some useful information in the thread (if thats even an apt name, I think Tome might be more appropriate now).

I really hope this is resolved, it seems a lucky few can get away using the card successfully but for me it seems I'll have to be keeping an eye on developments from both the Creative and BF2 camps hoping I can just fire up Bf2 again one day and just play a straightforward game with X-Fi quality sound without having to bring my troubleshooting skills home to bear on my own pc.

Anyway, I wish you well in your decision. As for me it looks like I might be playing BF2 without the lovely X-Fi quality sound for a while *sigh*

PS Must consider putting in my old Audigy card.

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

I bought the XFI Platinum today (same as the Fatal1ty but without the xram and a hundred dollars less). Well, it's more like I'm "renting" it. I bought it at Circuit City with ever intention of returning it unless I was creaming in my pants.

So far:

I uninstalled Realtek '97, went into safe mode, used Driver Cleaner to get rid of the drivers, went back into normal mode, installed the Creative software (lots of it!), and played my first game. At first it sounded kind of crappy, and I couldn't tell if my framerate had improved. My first map was Karkand. I Alt+Tab'd back to my desktop and played around with the Game Mode settings, specifically the equalizer.

After going back in I definately noticed some difference. Not $200 worth of difference, but it definately sounded crisper and the prospect of having such control over the sound (the equalizer and EAX effects etc) was enough to make it around a happy $100 purchase. That's two stars out of four. But, I realize that I've only had the card in for about ten minutes by this point, and the stars will surely grow, right?

I played around in Karkand (single player) as a sniper. My graphics were at all high, 6XAA, 1280X1024 and I didn't notice any stuttering. Framerates were between 60-80. I'd say they were around 50-70 before. Too early to say if the card gave a peformance boost. Two and a half stars by this point.

I exited Karkand and went to Dalian Plant. I hopped into a tank. Suddenly we're at negative stars here because it sounded like I blew my speakers. Granted, I have old, small, not so great speakers:

http://creative.com/products/product.asp?category=4&subcategory=27&product=139

Plus framerates were an almost steady 25. I alt+tab'd out, turned off bass boost, and went back in, died on purpose and respawned at around 40fps. I ended the level because I should have been getting 70 easy.

I decided to test music. Suddenly we're at 3 1/2 stars. I mean... wow. You'd be surprised how good my speakers actually sound. I've had some pretty nice stereos. I'm talking $400 reciever, $2000 speakers etc. Obviously a $200 soundcard and $100 speakers won't match that, but I mention it as a point of reference. This sounded GOOD. Really good.

And then I turned on the 24-bit crystalizer and the music simply came alive. I haven't heard music like this in a long long time.

I'm now about an hour into use, including installation (which took longer than it should have because I don't like how it sits in the pci slot (took some pushing and still sticks out far enough so that the case screw put some force on the bracket), but I've got mixed feelings. For music it's suberb, and for games I've had good and bad results. I just finished downloding the latest driver which appears to address most of the problems I experienced, so I've got my fingers crossed. I've got 30 days to play around with this before I make my decision, but I've got a feeling that not only am I going to end up keeping it, but I might have to go buy a nice surround sound now =P

[Lanserschrek]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

I just finished downloding the latest driver which appears to address most of the problems I experienced, so I've got my fingers crossed.

Hi Jofaba, the Creative thread suggests the following with regards to the latest Creative driver 2.07.0004

Go to windows/system32 copy and past openAL32.dll onto desktop. Rename it BF2OpenAL.dll and copy and paste it to X:\Program Files\EA GAMES\Battlefield 2\BF2OpenAL.dll you will over write the old one so you might want to copy and paste it (it will make a copy of it BF2OpenAL.dll2 or something like that).

Compare it with the original BF2 file and see if you notice any difference in the game.

I agree with your opinion of the X-Fi as regards music, once the 24-bit crystalizer kicks in the sound is just amazing. Thats why I'm holding out hope the issues will be resolved, for my music listening enjoyment alone I don't want to let it go.

Have you noticed the extra sounds and atmosphere it adds to BF2 yet? One quick example I can think of which surprised me the first time I heard it was when I was heading for a boat at the end of one of those little wooden docks, I was half way across the docks when I could hear in crystal clear sound the water sloshing around beneath me. Sounds even better with a 5.1 headset on.

Keep us posted at the end of your 30 days on how your experience with X-Fi went as it'll be only that extended use that will give you a true picture whether it's for you or not. Enjoy.

[AlphexHunter]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

if you already have a Audigy 2ZS DONT GET IT!..you will see like 5% difference its only to buy if you have a integrated....I got a pair it works with my headset and with my logitech x530 5.1 super there are no problemes with it...its a beautiful thing to buy.

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Yeah, definately more atmosphere and wow, do guns and tanks sound kickass. Really, I like it a lot, though I am getting some weird peformance hits and that's very very unacceptable. Everytime I close Karkand and go into Dalien Plant (single player) my framerates drop from the 50+ range to 25+. Then I alt+tab'd to the desktop, fiddled with nothing in particular, came back to bf2 and all of a sudden I'm at 80fps.

Is BF2 EAX the same as music EAX, basically just reverb? I haven't noticed much difference between EAX on or off (in game). If I do keep this card, I definately don't miss the lack of xram. I've read nothing but bad things about it (like how it's not really used and even when it is, it sucks, especially considering it costs an extra $100 for 64mb!)