Worth upgrading my old X-Fi Fatal1Ty PCI?

[dmlk]

Hi

I was wondering if it was time to upgrade my Creative X-Fi old PCI ard? Things are running fine it seems but I do wonder if it is worth getting the X-Fi Titanium HD.

I have the following:
Asus P8P67 Pro
i5 i2500k
8GB RAM
Sli (GTX580 Twin Froxr2 OC)

With my current SLI setup my current sound card sit inbetween the two GFX cards. My guess is that the card does not help with the heating of the two GTXs also would it make a difference getting a PCIe rather than my older PCI card?

If I got a new PCIe card then it would sit above the two cards and therefore I have wondered about upgrading my X-Fi card.

Any pointers will be great thanks.

 

[dmlk]

Forgot to add:

Creative X-Fi+Fatal1ty
Link - http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&CatName=Sound+Blaster&subCatID=208&subCatName=X-Fi&prodID=14000&prodName=X-Fi+Fatal1ty

 

[gamerk316]

Best options for PCI-E are probably the ASUS Xonar DX and Creative Soundblaster Z. I'm withholding judgment on the second pending reviews however.

 

[Mathos]

Honestly if you have the IO drive for that X-Fi you're better off sticking with it. They still haven't made card that can compete with them fully. The only reason I changed from my X-Fi Fatality pro to an X-Fi titanium was for proper front panel headset plug ability. Couldn't find the IO drive anywhere online at a reasonable price to buy one.

Bout the only reason to upgrade to a new card would be upgradable op amps, or THX Sound, or maybe a slightly newer version of EAX support. Bad part is you can't get new Auzentech X-Fi cards now either.

 

[dmlk]

Hi Mathos

Thanks for the reply.

Will it make a different upgrading the PCI to a PCIe card? My X-fi fatality has the IO panel but was wondering if it was better to get the X-Fi Titanium was so that I could move my card out of the middle of my SLI setup and also wondered if my system would run smoother or a PCIe card run smoother.

Does the X-fi titanium use the same drivers or newer drivers than the X-fi Fatality.

 

[dmlk]

Best options for PCI-E are probably the ASUS Xonar DX and Creative Soundblaster Z. I'm withholding judgment on the second pending reviews however.

Hi gamerk316,

I has been a while since I last thought about this question but I need to get a new Sound Card as my SLI system is getting too hot with my current card inbetween them.

As it has been 6mths what do you recommend now? I really like the IO pannel on the front but it seems this is not available for newer cards.

Should I get Creative Soundblaster ZxR as that will give me what the IO front pannel gave me in a way.

 

[dmlk]

Hi All

Does anyone know if the Creative Soundblaster ZxR will be worth the step up from the X-Fi Fatal1ty?

I like the front panel of the X-Fi Fatal1ty and want something similar and my guess is the ACM unit does this.

 

[dmlk]

Hi all,

no takers yet on the new questions I asked:

does anyeone know if for the ZxR if you have to install the daughterboard? Can you just install the main board and not use the daughterboard as I do not want to use the extra space.