What you think of the Xf-i Fatal1ty sound card?

Hendrix89

Just won a Fatal1ty FPS on eBay today. Got it for only 90EU and brand new too!!:D Not bad eh!?

Anyone own one? What do you think of this card? I have heard it improves game performance (framerate) a nice bit. Well at least when going from onboard:o Did I make a good choice?

WillieDH

It's excellent !!!

I never used to believe in spending money on sound cards when on-board sound is good.

How wrong was I, I'm in the trade an a business associate gave me a free sample.

Now I'd never go back to on board.

W

TerrorFirmer

I had an audigy 2 in my last computer, and to be honest, although it'd probably yield better fps, I didn't notice any difference in quality at all over the onboard....so now in my new machine, I'm still using onboard. Granted the Audigy 2 is no X-fi, but still.....I was disappointed! And yes I have decent speakers...

BadCharlie

I have the audigy 2 to also. I did not think there was much of a sound improvment over my onboard like the poster above. But i would think the card you won will be a lot better then what i have as mine is years old.

What i did find was buying a very good pair of headphones improved sound a lot. There is no point in have a great sound card if the headphone cant do the job.

Beelzebub

They're crap.

I'll buy it off you for 75E:

:eek:

8T8

Very nice cards great for analogue output definitely a step up over integrated audio though not so much vs a previous gen Audigy. The X-Fi does offload more to the sound card than integrated audio does so it will net you a small improvement in FPS as well.

Use the minimal drivers on Creatives website don't install the crap that comes on the CD though they do provide the option to install the minimalist drivers from there those drivers would be out of date.

The X-Fi Crystalizer is also handy for MP3's if you want to make them sound a bit better but it doesn't always work for every MP3.

swingking

I use this card when completing my sound recordings and they are very efficient.

It is a very powerful sound card, that delivers superb performance.

90euro is very good value for the sound card. I bought mine for 200 brand new, last year.

L31mr0d

personally I would never of invested in a soundcard, it was always on the list of upgrades but i'd always but that money into another graphics card or something, as the sound in games isn't of the greatest quality anyway.

But the better half had heard me yammering on to a friend about how i'd always wanted one but would never buy one for myself so she bought me one, lucky thing was at the time I had a Abit Fatal1ty mobo, so she just bought the soundcard on the shelf that had the same name as my motherboard, rofl.

But wow, I don't know how I lived without it. I mean i'll probably never use any of the extra I/O ports aside from the line in/out, but they are nice to have. The CMSS 3D is AMAZING, seriously, its so good I actually sold my 5.1 medusas as you can get the same surround sound effect out of 2.1 cans with the CMSS 3D enabled on the XFI Fatal1ty. I've spent the money and bought a pair of Sennheiser HD555, and with the Fatal1ty they are crystal clear, download some lossless .FLAC music and realise why god gave us ears.

Seriously people put too much attention into visuals with computers and not enough emphasis on the audio.

Hey, just a question, is the card second hand? The only issue I might have with them, is that some where prone to bugs with the drivers so they needed to be RMA'd. I just hope you don't get one of these duds, you'll know soon enough if it is as when you install the drivers you'll start to hear static and popping when you play music with the volume up.

Hendrix89

Thanks for reviews guys:D I'll be using the card for music recording quite alot also so im glad it works good for that as well as the gaming. I don't have very good speakers at all right now. In fact they're 5hit! Just two crappy bottem line creative speakers, but if the card makes these speakers sound good i'll be jumping for joy:D Save me some money.


L31mr0d,

Hey, just a question, is the card second hand? The only issue I might have with them, is that some where prone to bugs with the drivers so they needed to be RMA'd. I just hope you don't get one of these duds, you'll know soon enough if it is as when you install the drivers you'll start to hear static and popping when you play music with the volume up.

No it's brand new, according to the seller and his ad. He's a power seller with 100% positive rating so im sure i can take his word. I will know when I get it though. I didn't know about that problem now. Did you have it with yours?

By the way those sennheiser headphones look nice. I might look into getting a pair myself actually!

astrofool

Have an Audigy 2ZS, waiting for them to go PCI-E before buying another one (I usually get the version with the breakout box).

L31mr0d

you should note though that the HD555's might not be the best for sound recording as the cans are open, meaning noise from the outside world isn't really shut out completely, although this gives a better range to the sound making it feel like you are hearing the music in the open air rather than through headphones. If you are recording music you'll want to cancel out any sort of external noise, Sennheiser also do some HD cans that are closed, check out there website.

Hendrix89

Yeah thanks I just noticed that. Looks like they won't do as an all-in-one then. Still they're good for gaming so I may get them for that, and look into good speakers later on for the music. This is why I am slow at upgrading my pc hardware... I have two areas to focus on!

Saruman

I have one i got from a friend. I put it into my Media centre i put together. My mobo on my new system has a pretty good built in sound system so i kept it. Figured the X-fi might be better on a media centre anyway