Creative Sound Blaster X-FI & X-RAM

RiptideRiptide Northern Canada New
edited January 2007 in Hardware
Question, looking up upgrading my xound card (have a buddy who will buy my current one off me), and am wondering if it's worth spending the extra bucks for the Creative Sound Blaster X-FI FATAL1TY, as opposed to the Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Platinum. The only difference between the two - other than the ~$100 CND, (and my current one) is a Front 5.25" bay (which I want), with inputs. And the Fatality has X-RAM, which is suspose to take more of a load off the CPU ("up to 15%"). I'm just wondering if it actually works to the point where it will make a difference. Or if they just say it's 'suspose' to do this... but in reality in makes very little or no difference at all.

Comments

  • DeveloperDeveloper
    edited January 2007
    I have X-Fi Fatal1ty. Bought it end of 2005 and it has been running smoothly since. I bought this version primarily for the front bay as it has optical I/O, extra line and aux inputs, mic and hedphone connectors with volume knobs.
    As of X-RAM the only game that I have noticed performance difference was Quake 4. FPS difference was high enough for me to notice the difference.
    When I switched openAL off (i believe this is the only way to turn the XRAM off), just for the test, sounds became flat, the game lost its sonic depth and FPS went down.
    Although I doubt there are many games that use X-RAM, I think this was a good buy.
  • RiptideRiptide Northern Canada New
    edited January 2007
    The only reason I'm considering it is the front bay. But the Platinum has everything the Fatal1ty does except for the X-RAM. I did a bit if reading on it, and currently, I don't think it's worth the extra $110 that it's going to cost me. Maybe down the road when more games come out with it, it could be something I look at again. But until then I don't think it's something I really need.
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