mmglads Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 'Cause I play music - as well as flightsimming - & wanted a better soundcard than the built in on my mainboard, I just splashed out on a SoundBlaster X-Fi card. I don't know if it's a gimmick, but it has 3 modes - Entertainment, Audio recording & Game mode, these are "hot switchable" - no need to reboot & apparently take a load off the main CPU. I disabled the on board card, fitted the X-Fi & it really works well (after spending the best part of an hour loading & then updating the drivers - at least they give you Vista & XP drivers on separate CD's). I have yet to see whether the "mode" function actually does have an effect on frame rates, but FSX does seem to load quicker & with fewer "stutters" than before. Anyone else got one of these, or any thoughts on sound cards? Cheers, Malcolm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heiko Glatthorn Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I got the Xtreme Music and run game mode (whatever that means... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I have the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series and works a treat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falknis Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I have the x-fi elite pro which has a standalone equilizer with two microphone or electric guitar jacks and headphone jack, I had issues when I first got it but creative have since come out with proper vista 64-bit drivers and it now runs a treat, as for your question about fps vs mode I have'nt given that a thought or at least tried it out. It works well with my electric guitar. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krono Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Hi I have the XFI Fatality card and its great.. The card is a low latency card so is good for musical composition playback Audio Creation Mode The Game Mode boosts the base responses which we all know you cant live without in any good game or in this case HOBBY and the Entertainment Mode changes the unit for exceptional outputs for movies or music. What more could you want? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ja50n01 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I Have the Xfi Music Extreme, been fancying the Fatality one, but not sure whether it would do much apart from hurt my credit card lol, It does improve any game or Sim so enjoy Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmglads Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 Thanks all for your input. I actually did buy the X-Fi Fatal1ty card & I echo the staments made, after a few days trial, it works really well on Vista & XP. Tried recording on it the other day & the quality is astounding. Many years ago when I was living in the UK & FS98 was the best thing since sliced bread I had a Creative SB AWE card - about the size of a housebrick, but great quality (pre PCI days.) How far we have come! Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I'll jump in too... X-Fi Xtreme Gamer here. No difference in FSX performance, but sound quality is better. I was thinking of getting the same card Wolter has, but thought its a bit too expensive considering I'm not that much of a sound freak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Antti, I can tell you when I'm flying one of those big radials it's like you in 'm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appliance Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Always against the government I plumped for Razer's Barracuda and partner headphones ... Cbit apparently had alittle to do with development. Frankly the combination rocks! These are gaming orinted products though so unsuitable for your purposes. Happy listening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Antti, I can tell you when I'm flying one of those big radials it's like you in 'm May I ask what kind of speaker setup you have? I use headphones mostly, and then I have stereo speakers, but the headphones cant give the same rumbling for the low frequencies of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterhayes Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 On another forum a poster recommended that in the "audio console" you set the mode to "Audio Creation Mode" and this gives a much better all round performance to the game. I tried all 3 (game, enetertainment and audio creation) and I find that the audio creation setting is much the best for my system. PeterH FSX SP2 Vista64 SP1, 4GB RAM, E8600, 9800GTX, XFi Music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Antti, I have a Creative 7.1 Inspire T7700 Surround set and a Sennheiser HD-160 headset Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
}SkOrPn--7 Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 mmglads your a bad boy you should have asked before purchasing a Creative card we could have steered you too a better one with better support and drivers but the same quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmglads Posted November 28, 2008 Author Share Posted November 28, 2008 Ah yes, young }SkOrPn--7 , I know there were a myriad of choices out there, but I really like what the card is doing in terms of quality, so I'm happy. I'm sure if I took another recommendation, there would be lots of people who would say "but you should have bought the X-Fi!" Just out of curiosity, what would you have recommended? To answer another query, my speaker set up is a Logitech 6.1 with subwoofer - purchased for the princely sum of $99 AUD in a clearance sale. Theyre not the biggest, not the best - but in my room the FSX sound is just wonderful - and from the amount of times Im asked to "turn it down!" by the family, it's probably about loud enogh for this little black duck. Thanks PeterH for your input, I'm trying the Audio creation mode now - seems to be fine. Cheers, Malcolm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterhayes Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Malcolm I just purcahased a set of Logitech G51 speakers that are superb for FSX and got them at a bargain basement price. Thanks to Maurice King for his suggestion re:Matrix speakers (G51) which really help FSX sound. I have used both an XFi card and the onboard realtek HD sound (not at the same time) and I have not noticed any differences in sound quality, fps and/or stuttering between the two. Regards peterH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
}SkOrPn--7 Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Ah yes, young }SkOrPn--7 , I know there were a myriad of choices out there, but I really like what the card is doing in terms of quality, so I'm happy. I'm sure if I took another recommendation, there would be lots of people who would say "but you should have bought the X-Fi!" Just out of curiosity, what would you have recommended? To answer another query, my speaker set up is a Logitech 6.1 with subwoofer - purchased for the princely sum of $99 AUD in a clearance sale. Theyre not the biggest, not the best - but in my room the FSX sound is just wonderful - and from the amount of times Im asked to "turn it down!" by the family, it's probably about loud enogh for this little black duck. Thanks PeterH for your input, I'm trying the Audio creation mode now - seems to be fine. Cheers, Malcolm. mmglads I also own the Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Fatal1ty and while it is extremely good plus like you can't be happier the below link is where I would have gone if I was doing it all over again because it uses the same chip set but auzentech have made leaps in the way of drivers and software improvements which out classes ours we have. Creative have built a name but there hardware needs improvement along with there support. http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_prelude.php @peterhayes I also have the G51 and for bang for buck your not going to match it there really are a awesome powerhouse unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattn79 Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 I've read in a couple of places that adding a dedicated sound card (as opposed to onboard m/b) will increase gaming performance, has anyone noticed any FPS increase? My onboard sound card through my creative speakers sounds and sub sounds great, but just wondering if I get a dedicated card if it will make any difference to FSX performance (if at all)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Snyman Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Yep, it's better to stay away from Creative if you can as }SkOrPn--7 pointed out. The Auzentech Prelude or the Asus Xonar are the best ones to look at. if I get a dedicated card if it will make any difference to FSX performance (if at all)? No, not really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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