Audigy SE vs. X-Fi XtremeGamer

[qmalik]

Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102002 - ($30)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102006 - ($61 after $30 rebate)

Which should I get? $30 is a nice amount for a soundcard...however...the X-Fi has a $30 rebate which makes it $61 instead of $91...but $61 is still 100% premium over the Audigy SE. Which would u get?

 

[truromeo4juliet]

what OS are you using? because creative has refused to supply the world with adequate drivers for x-fi on vista... not sure about audigy

 

[qmalik]

im planning on going vista ultimate

 

[parkardbell486dx2]

I get the X-fi one because of EAX 5.0. Newer games take 4.0 and higher like doom 3. The SE only has 3.0. EAX puts a really nice effect on games. So ya i would get the X-fi, i myself is buying the X-FI later on. But if you don't care about the EAX stuff the SE should do you well you just wont have the option to have high settings on sound while playing games.
But you should read the reviews on newegg!!

 

[parkardbell486dx2]

stay away from vista!!! XP is your best friend trust me!

 

[qmalik]

these are my speakers: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121006

yeah i am not sure i care for EAX (not sure what it is tbh)...n not sure is the 100% premium is worth it for me.

 

[qmalik]

stay away from vista!!! XP is your best friend trust me!

I know but I want DX10!

 

[parkardbell486dx2]

its not worth the pain

 

[parkardbell486dx2]

I had vista ultimate on my computer for three months and it was a living hell. Its really nothing special, its nothing but a wolf covered sheeps fur. Just yesterday i went back to XP with SP3. You wont get the full support for your sound card on vista as you would on XP.
I say stay with XP and deal with not having DX10. You may suffer a small loss for eye candy, but thats it. But its up to you. I am saying this from experience.

 

[quantumsheep]

Don't listen to all these fools, Vista is a fine operating system. There's also non-official drivers out for the x-fi which make it work fine under Vista.

However, if i were you i'd steer clear of Creative. Go with something like the Asus Xonar or the HT Omega Claro.

 

[Plyro109]

Just so you know, the Audigy SE uses software decoding while the X-fi uses hardware decoding.

The difference between those is that hardware decoding can use the soundcard to actually decode the sound, instead of your computer's processor then running it through a filter, which is what software decoding does. This gives your CPU some extra time that it can put somewhere else (Say, devoting more time to a game). This WILL boost your framerates slightly in games (1-5fps) depending on the game. And, in my opinion, hardware-decoded sound sounds better and clearer than software-decoded. (I went from an Audigy SE to an Audigy 2 Platinum, and the difference is definite.)

Now, if you're looking for sound quality for like music and things, save the money ang get the SE. For games though, you'll want that hardware decoding capability, and that means getting the X-fi.

 

[qmalik]

well i heard ppl saying that both cards worth with vista...i am just wondering if the sound quality different is worth extra $30. I want to stay in the 30-50$ range for sound card.

 

[Aintry]

Vista doesn't support hardware decoding for audio. Hardware decoding would only offer a performance advantage in Windows XP, which does support hardware decoding.

 

[Ogdin]

The sound quality is far better on the xfi,i'm running there latest drivers on vista 64 with no problems.

 

[Ogdin]

And where did you get the no hardware decoding info from?

 

[Aintry]

And where did you get the no hardware decoding info from?

The information is freely available to anyone who wants to look it up.

 

[yadge]

I have the X-fi xtremegamer on vista. And it works fine. It even came with drivers specifically for vista from creative... so I don't know why people say that it doesn't work on vista.

 

[Aintry]

I don't know why people say it doesn't work on Vista either.

 

[makotech222]

same here. i ahve xtremegamer on vista with the creative drivers and it works fine. be sure to download creative alchemy, so you can play old games with eax support.

 

[Ogdin]

Well not exactly true,Creative has it turned off in there drivers but Auzentech has Dolby Digital Live enabled in there drivers with DTS supposedly to follow.So it seems its Creative dragging there feet on the driver support again.

 

[ainarssems]

I also have x-fi and sure it works in vista only it has a lot less options available in vista than in xp. but you can get unofficial drivers that will offer full functionality in vista like in xp

 

[yadge]

I also have x-fi and sure it works in vista only it has a lot less options available in vista than in xp. but you can get unofficial drivers that will offer full functionality in vista like in xp

What isn't available in vista?

 

[qmalik]

hmm $30 card...vs paying $90 for a better sound card...and than waiting to get $30 back....arg...wish i could hear both cards in action before buying >.<

 

[nukemaster]

the only thing you loose is vista is EAX, but creative has a software to get the effect back. I am not getting into the crappy driver things, there is a third party set that is supposed to work well...

 

[qmalik]

X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional ($85 after rebate): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102005

damnit they are making this hard on me