Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

I'm on the verge of doing the unthinkable: returning the card. I know it's not the card. I KNOW that it's a driver issue. I downloaded the beta drivers and now I get static popping sounds while listening to music whenever i move my mouse over something. If their beta made things worse, I'm afraid of what the final release will do...

I dunno. Maybe I should just wait until I hear people praising the new drivers for solving everyones problems, but that could take years if ever. Maybe I'll get a new mobo in a month and everything will be fine. The card cost $135 and technically I don't need the money, but I'll feel really stupid if the card stays in my closet for the rest of it's life. I've got more pressing problems with my computer right now. I'm starting to regret ever getting a sound card with so many other things to fix first. That's the driving force behind me changing my mind about keeping this card.

Maybe if I bring it back now, something better (that works) will come along quickly. Or, at the very least, the price will most likely go down. I'm sick of having to reinstall drivers everyday just so I can play some games. My time is limited. I want to start enjoying the few hours with my computer that I have now that I've got a fulltime job.

BLAH!

[Lanserschrek]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Jofaba,

Long have I found this thread the most interesting on TotalBF2 since your first post and my first response. Your continuing posts have always been extremely detailed and I was always hoping your dedication to having an X-Fi card with all it's superior audiophile qualities would yield a satisfactory experience for you.

I myself was briefly tempted (to test it on my own system) when I saw the beta X-Fi drivers first released, even saw your response on that totally separate thread where you hoped as I that it would resolve the issues. I am currently back to using my plain old Audigy 2 because ... well basically it works. I have tried so many times on my two systems with varying configurations just hoping I can have that superior quality sound I love without the unpredicatable consequences. My patience has long run out, it almost seems on the Creative thread that these supposed BETA drivers "accidentally" released to the public were as such being BETA tested by us trustworthy fans of X-Fi quality sound and BF2. As said before there are better things to be doing than troubleshooting this constantly. Your efforts for me have been noted and this thread with all it's valauble info has been spread. So take heart in that at least. I still hope that Creative can provide a decent quality card without us BETA testing it in public. In fairness we paid for a finished product.

[knghtwhosaysni]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Well... I'm enjoying 5.1 with my new X-Fi card and everything seems to work fine

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Well, according to this thread I bought my Xtreme Music 2 weeks ago, so I'm still within return guidelines (I had a feeling that I was). However, I've decided to try ONE MORE THING before giving up. I really hate giving up on anything in this computer (can you tell?).

So I've been weighing my options after turning the sound card problem off in my mind and uninstalling it from my system. Overall, my system is slightly unstable, but I have a pretty close understanding of it now and can recover it from any major crash that I cause (from overclocking or bios settings etc). If I leave well enough alone, it's rock solid, even with overclocking (then clocking back slightly). The problem must absolutely be 1) Conflicting drivers, or 2) weak resiliance/compatibility with HOW I'm running my computer. Be it overclocking or just my prefered operation through registry hacks etc. So what might cause this problem?

I've spent literally hundreds of hours reading through forums, researching my problems, talking with people on and offline, reading optimization guides, and learning a hell of a lot about computers (and being surprised at being surprised about what they can actually do peformance wise, when set up properly). That's not to say it's not me. But considering that the problems have followed me through:

1) Two videocards
2) Two soundcards
3) Multiple Windows installs
4) Multiple BF2 installs
5) Easily reproducible problematic instances (sounds impressive huh?)
6) No peformance increase seen between 2.0ghz and 2.4ghz
7) No peformance increase seen between 1gb of ram and 2gb of ram
8) No peformance increase seen between 7,200rpm and 10,000rpm HD
9) Mobo oddly stable at high overclocks at stock voltage/cooling (coupled with the apparently identical peformance)
10) My friend has the pci-e version of my card and I have to play the latest games medium high, he can play high high and 1600x1200 (and before you go on about how much better pci-e is, realize that the x850xt pe IS pci-e regardless of it's agp interface. This particular card was built on the pci-e board, simply with an interface change, from what I undertand.)

This leaves my processor, and my motherboard. I plan on replacing both (but not at the same time). I'll be purchasing a mobo this week, and keeping the xtreme music until the fresh install of windows on the new board, and pray to the Gods of technology that my computer purrs like a kitten and growls like a leopard. Wish me luck!

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Just finally got my eVGA 7800gt and eVGA SLi mobo installed, drivers updated, bios updated, XFI Xtreme Music installed (well, just the drivers right now) and BF2.

Battlefield 2 has never played so well on this computer.

I have high hopes for the XFI because I know someone who has this exact setup.

I'll keep y'all updated.

[Darksniper75]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Just finally got my eVGA 7800gt and eVGA SLi mobo installed, drivers updated, bios updated, XFI Xtreme Music installed (well, just the drivers right now) and BF2.

Battlefield 2 has never played so well on this computer.

I have high hopes for the XFI because I know someone who has this exact setup.

I'll keep y'all updated.

How is your iq? And what fps are you running now?

Cheers

[N2K]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

what windows are you using?

i had x64 and it would lock up i think because of the x-fi

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

XP 32 bit Pro. By "iq" I assume you mean irq? My videocard is currently sharing with my Belkin pci usb card, and the sound card is all by it's lonesome. My fps in single player karkand at 1280x1024 all high and 4XAA was about 80-90fps. Special Forces was about 70fps. FEAR maxed out same res was about 50fps. Framerates were VERY stable compared to earlier. They don't flutuate as much.

[Lanserschrek]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Well it seems a while since one of my most avidly watched threads has any life so I thought I could post one of my updates seeing it is of a positive nature.

My X-Fi issues seem to have finally been resolved, I left it for a week or more to be sure, yes I can finally enjoy X-Fi quality sound on my system whilst playing BF2 with audio Ultra High Settings. I'm not sure what resolved it for me as I've rebuilt both PCs so many times I've lost track of what was the successful resolution on my current system. However I have narrowed it down to three possibilties. 1GB extra memory, Microsoft Dual Core Patch and (yes I finally gave in) SoundBlaster 2.09.00 BETA drivers (the most likely culprit after all my rebuilds). My performance now is about 80-95fps at 1280x1024 all high on 64 player servers. Of course the fps varies according to action but it's consistently high and finally does justice to a 7800GT.

[N2K]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

You are running dual core?

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Hello all. Awesome to see that people are still interested in this thread. No, I do not (yet) have a dual core processor. Since getting a new motherboard and videocard I haven't actually tested out my sound that much. However, the problems I was having are gone. There is still popping and crackling in BF2, but it's at an acceptable level, while earlier it was completely unplayable. As far as I know, I am currently experiencing the same problem that thousands of other XFI + BF2 users have come to know as common XFI peformance. However, someone that I know that has this exact mobo/videocard combo has no problems.

I'm going to play some other games this weekend to see if the sound degregation occurs, but I'm pretty sure that it won't . I've effectively replaced half of my computer since I first started having problems (new motherboard, new videocard, new power supply, and even a new sound card: platinum to the xtreme music). I have every intention on keeping this card, even though I'm still within the return policy.

I will update this thread one last time after I've experimented this weekend. As it stands, I think that it's a good thread worth sharing with others if they are thinking of getting an XFI, are having similar problems, or if they are having problems in general and just don't want to feel like they're the only one. Thanks for all you're support and interest. If any of you wish to contact me directly, my information is on my TBF2 profile.

[knghtwhosaysni]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

I'm assuming you've tried different speakers right? :)

[Jofaba]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Yes and no. I've tried headphones. I don't have other speakers yet. I was going to get either a nice Sennheiser or Bose set, but can't quite get myself to spend $150 on headphones yet when for another $100 I can get surround sound. Only thing is, I don't get to play loudly that often =/

[N2K]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Well wasnt the X-Fi made for a 7.1 setup along with Headphones

[pYura]

Re: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

I have X-Fi and I'm using it with TECHNICS headphones. Very cool... I can tell you where the enemy is coming from with my eyes closed.