X-Fi Support Syndicate & Owner's Clubhouse

[btarunr]

I always end up confusing USD with AUD.

Didn't Creative stop the production for Xtreme Music? It's been out-of-stock on the Creative store for over seven months now and most American and Britt online stores as well. The only ones you find are those sold used on ebay and Amazon.

 

[Skrabrug]

Does newegg ship to Australia?
Also the rebate is for US citizens only (but its still cheaper even without the rebate)

edit:

this was where i was going to get the X-Fi fatal1ty before:
http://www.scorptec.com.au/product/21427/

 

[btarunr]

Nope, Newegg doesn't ship outside of US.

 

[Skrabrug]

Damn i r full of fail!!

Guess I'll check ebay again on pay day and if theres no ebay store ppl selling them I'll get it from scorptech xD

 

[Deleted member 24505]

My xtreme music is fine,and tbh i would never buy any of the fatlity branded stuff,its just marketing guff.Does the fatality one make you a better gamer or make your pc run the games better.....nope.

Each to his own tho' i guess.

 

[btarunr]

I know but the sad part is that all the Creative X-Fi cards that have the 64 MB X-RAM are now Fatal1ty branded except the Elite Pro. Marketing stuff on Fatal1ty's name doesn't make sense to me at all. We used to buy a popular English-willow cricket bat made by Sunridges. They later started branding the same bat after Brian Lara, the WI batsman and its sales crashed.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I dont think the onboard ram particulary does anything.The xtreme music has a ram chip on it,not 64mb i guess.

 

[btarunr]

I dont think the onboard ram particulary does anything.The xtreme music has a ram chip on it,not 64mb i guess.

Nope, it's a 2048 KB bank that stores the BIOS for the CA20-K1 processor. I have an old abandoned blog entry on what this bank does in detail. If you want to give it a reading, feel free:

http://btarunr-gd.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-2-mib-sdram-bank-on-x-fi-xtreme.html

 

[Skrabrug]

My xtreme music is fine,and tbh i would never buy any of the fatlity branded stuff,its just marketing guff.Does the fatality one make you a better gamer or make your pc run the games better.....nope.

Each to his own tho' i guess.

actually funny thing is the Fatal1ty brand is cheaper here in PC stores than the same product without the branding mainly because ppl try to avoid buying it.

i honestly don't care if it has a brand on it or not. I'm buying the cheaper out of the two : /

 

[Kursah]

Nope, it's a 2048 KB bank that stores the BIOS for the CA20-K1 processor. I have an old abandoned blog entry on what this bank does in detail. If you want to give it a reading, feel free:

http://btarunr-gd.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-2-mib-sdram-bank-on-x-fi-xtreme.html

Very nice info for sure beta! I have an Extreme Music and it's a great card, and yes it only has the 2mb chip on it which I now know what is actually used for. I will say that some games seemed a tad smoother when using an add-in sound card in comparison to my bunk on-board sound (my on-board is only bunk because if a crap chip that Asus put on this MB model...I've ran on-board on my MB's without issue or need for an add-in card before).

 

[imperialreign]

Didn't Creative stop the production for Xtreme Music? It's been out-of-stock on the Creative store for over seven months now and most American and Britt online stores as well. The only ones you find are those sold used on ebay and Amazon.

I'm fairly certain that the XM was removed from the lineup, but during that time Creative didn't even have the card listed in their store or on the main site under "Products." IDK, though, as now it's listed under Products again, but it still doesn't appear on the Creative Store

I thought, though, the reason why it was removed from the lineup was because of how similar it was to the XGFP; there are very few differences between them as far as capability (although the XGFP still had better quality and performance), and TBH, the XGFP was just a better buy at the time.

My xtreme music is fine,and tbh i would never buy any of the fatlity branded stuff,its just marketing guff.Does the fatality one make you a better gamer or make your pc run the games better.....nope.

Each to his own tho' i guess.

Usually, the "Fatal1ty" name is just thrown around as a marketing gimmick - and most propducts brandishing that name don't really offer much more that another product by the same manu already offers. As to Creative's card - even if you remove the "F1" name from the product, it still really is the best card out of the lineup. Although, I'd much rather see it called the X-Fi Elite or something else to signify top-o-tha-line. Using a name like Fatal1ty is just a fad - what is a company to do once he's ousted as a gaming champ? All celebrity endorsements are short lived.

Damn i r full of fail!!

Guess I'll check ebay again on pay day and if theres no ebay store ppl selling them I'll get it from scorptech xD

sorry, man - I hadn't even noticed you were in Aus. Didn't even think to look.

I dont think the onboard ram particulary does anything.The xtreme music has a ram chip on it,not 64mb i guess.

btarunr's link there does a great job describing the purpose of the "X-RAM." All X-Fi cards have some amount of on-board RAM, but the XGFP is the only one advertised as having 64MB. TBH, even though it only supposed to be used in certain supported games; I've gotten the impression before that the APU also uses the on board memory for temporary storage of files it's working with (i.e buffering, downsampling, etc), instead of it being solely used to store loaded up audio files. It removes a lot of the dependancy on using the SYS MEM for temporary storage of working files. I'm sure it's used more than Creative have come to advertise, because saying that it's only for 'gaming' (and advertising it only on the XGFP) makes people think they're getting something specifically designed for a specific purpose. It's just, with 64MB, an APU can process more sounds faster at any given time than a card only stouting 16MB.

damn, I best shut up cause I feel like I'm babbling an not making any sense

 

[affinity0]

Are any of you using 5.1 analog output on your X-Fi's? I have the XtremeGamer and when set to 5.1in the control panel (and in Windows settings) I am only getting left and right channels. The only way for me to get 5.1 is though CMSS Running Windows XP SP2 32bit, tried drivers on cd on the newest.

 

[btarunr]

Have you configured them in the Creative console in both Entertainment and Game modes?

Okay welcome to my second rig. This one runs my older Xtreme Gamer. Take a good look at the screenshot, under the calibration tab, make sure these are the default values, click on 'default'. Under the speaker-selection tab, click on the polarity button, keep clicking next one time each to hear the test noise from each of your speakers including the sub-woofer, choose a polarity setting that works with your speaker set. Run the Creative Diagnostics tool if required.

Screenshot:

 

[affinity0]

5.1 works, but it seems only in games that are taking advantage of EAX. So far of the games i have installed, just Bioshock and STALKER are using 5.1 appropriately. Even games that do support 5.1 are not always getting 5.1 output. UT3 works as well. But some games, like FarCry for isntance, even when set to 5.1, is not outputing in 5.1. Oblivion is another game that supports 5.1 but i only get 2 channel. I guess i hate Creatives way of implementing 5.1. My integrated Realtek makes everything 5.1. I really wish i had kept my Auzentech X-Plosion, was a GREAT sounding card

 

[btarunr]

I don't see any 'special implementation' on Creative's part. The games have to be properly configured to exploit the multichannel capabilities. Your Realtek codec doesn't make everything 5.1, it just spreads the same left/right stereo channels to even the rear speakers, the center/sub channel is left+right channels downmixed to mono....not really 5.1 you see. With a X-Fi card, every sound source gets its right channel arrangement. i.e. when there's a stereo source, you'll only have the FL, FR channels giving out output then again, if you want, you can configure Winamp to use 'WaveOut Output' as your default output plugin in the place of DirectSound if you want your music to come from all the speakers (while still technically being stereo).

 

[bud951]

I have a Prelude 7.1 that i just installed last night on my new 780i system. It turned a completley stable system into a wreck. At first i was having the high pitch noise and constant hang ups. I figured it was heat related since the card is cramed between an 8800gt and my 750 psu in a coolermaster cosmos case. Since I have browsed this thread I am now thinking it is an incompatability with my mobo. I set the pci latency from 32 to 64 and no help. Should I even try to reintall this card in my other pci slot that does have alot more breathing room or am I just hoplessly screwed? I love the sound but hate the probs. I would hate to have to go to another mobo just to keep the sound card but I may just do it. Are there any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[imperialreign]

I have a Prelude 7.1 that i just installed last night on my new 780i system. It turned a completley stable system into a wreck. At first i was having the high pitch noise and constant hang ups. I figured it was heat related since the card is cramed between an 8800gt and my 750 psu in a coolermaster cosmos case. Since I have browsed this thread I am now thinking it is an incompatability with my mobo. I set the pci latency from 32 to 64 and no help. Should I even try to reintall this card in my other pci slot that does have alot more breathing room or am I just hoplessly screwed? I love the sound but hate the probs. I would hate to have to go to another mobo just to keep the sound card but I may just do it. Are there any suggestions? Thanks.

I'd defi recommend moving the card to a more open area, if possible. The X-Fi can pick up a lot of EMI from a GPU.

Also, double check to make sure that your BIOS is up to date, too. If need be, you can try to bump up the PCI latency another step to 96; anything higher than that won't really help, though.

 

[bud951]

I'd defi recommend moving the card to a more open area, if possible. The X-Fi can pick up a lot of EMI from a GPU.

Also, double check to make sure that your BIOS is up to date, too. If need be, you can try to bump up the PCI latency another step to 96; anything higher than that won't really help, though.

Hi. I nstalled it in the other slot and it has not locked up or given the high pitch noise since even though I have not had alot of time to test it. I still get a crackle from just the right front channel in games and music. I was getting this before but the lockups overshadowed it. Could this be the sign of a bad card? Maybe a bad d/a or somthing? Thanks for the help.

 

[btarunr]

nope, it's a sign of electro-magnetic interference from the video cards.

Do this DIY:

You need some transparent cellophane sheet, some Aluminum foil from the kitchen. using the cellophane and some sealing tape, over the back side of the Auzen card, cover half of the top side while leaving the X-Fi processor exposed. Now, cover the cellophane cover with aluminum foil, make a small cut at the Front panel header at the NW of the PCB if required. Now you have your very own EMI shield. The Cellophane sheet electrically insulates the components from the aluminum foil, the aluminum foil absorbs the EM waves, you can use a double sheet of the foil if required.

No your Auzen card can't be defective. Auzen's build quality is the best in the industry for sound cards at the moment.

 

[bud951]

nope, it's a sign of electro-magnetic interference from the video cards.

Do this DIY:

You need some transparent cellophane sheet, some Aluminum foil from the kitchen. using the cellophane and some sealing tape, over the back side of the Auzen card, cover half of the top side while leaving the X-Fi processor exposed. Now, cover the cellophane cover with aluminum foil, make a small cut at the Front panel header at the NW of the PCB if required. Now you have your very own EMI shield. The Cellophane sheet electrically insulates the components from the aluminum foil, the aluminum foil absorbs the EM waves, you can use a double sheet of the foil if required.

No your Auzen card can't be defective. Auzen's build quality is the best in the industry for sound cards at the moment.

Thanks for the info. Would you happen to have a pic of this? It sounds easy enough but I am hoping not to short anything out using foil in the pc. I have just watched two DVD movies and I dont get the crackle but when I fire up a game or mp3 music it is there. Weird. This mod could tide me over until the 9800 GX2's come out which should give the same or better performance as my 2 8800gt's but without butting one up against the sound card. Thanks again for the info.

 

[btarunr]

Thanks for the info. Would you happen to have a pic of this? It sounds easy enough but I am hoping not to short anything out using foil in the pc.

Which is why I've suggested the use of cellophane layers. Cellophane is a plastic sheet that insulates plus also absorbs static charges.I Don't have a pic since I haven't tried it with mine yet but later this year when I plan to buy a GA-X38-DS4 and two HD3870 cards, I will need to do that to my card. Maybe I'll try that out with my card this weekend and keep you posted with pics, kk?

 

[bud951]

Which is why I've suggested the use of cellophane layers. Cellophane is a plastic sheet that insulates plus also absorbs static charges.I Don't have a pic since I haven't tried it with mine yet but later this year when I plan to buy a GA-X38-DS4 and two HD3870 cards, I will need to do that to my card. Maybe I'll try that out with my card this weekend and keep you posted with pics, kk?

Sounds good. Thanks.

 

[imperialreign]

nope, it's a sign of electro-magnetic interference from the video cards.

Do this DIY:

You need some transparent cellophane sheet, some Aluminum foil from the kitchen. using the cellophane and some sealing tape, over the back side of the Auzen card, cover half of the top side while leaving the X-Fi processor exposed. Now, cover the cellophane cover with aluminum foil, make a small cut at the Front panel header at the NW of the PCB if required. Now you have your very own EMI shield. The Cellophane sheet electrically insulates the components from the aluminum foil, the aluminum foil absorbs the EM waves, you can use a double sheet of the foil if required.

No your Auzen card can't be defective. Auzen's build quality is the best in the industry for sound cards at the moment.

damn, btarunr beat me to it! +1 on Auzen's build quality and the EMI bit.

Seeing as how at this point you only hear interference in the RF channel - how are the speakers connected to your card? I'm guessing you have Line1, Line2 and Line3 plugged into the back, or do you use a seperate console plugged into the AUD connector, or do you only have one line and seperate remote channel splitter?

Reason I ask, is that EMI can also interfere with the signal being sent through the cable - if you have 3 seperate plugs at the back of the card, the one leading to your front channel might be picking up EMI from some appliance or other high powered device (Plasma TV, some DVR tuners, etc). If this might be the case, you can try re-routing your audio cables, and if it gets better, but the noise is still present, you might want to look into buying some shielded audio cable.


EMI, is a PITA, honestly - the clearer and more "high def" our audio capabilities are becoming, the more they become succeptable to noise interference, too. And to top that, the more powerful other electronic appliances become, the more EMI they produce - it's kinda a lose/lose situation

 

[btarunr]

Something tells me his system is starving (overloaded PSU). At least if I calculate things using the Newegg.com wattage calculator. The Ageia PhysX card draws 30W~35W peak, the X-Fi draws 15W "when switching modes", 12W in game mode, 8W in entertainment/ac mode. External EMI has disastrous effects on the X-Fi series cards when switching modes. Wanna know in detail?

 

[bud951]

Something tells me his system is starving (overloaded PSU). At least if I calculate things using the Newegg.com wattage calculator. The Ageia PhysX card draws 30W~35W peak, the X-Fi draws 15W "when switching modes", 12W in game mode, 8W in entertainment/ac mode. External EMI has disastrous effects on the X-Fi series cards when switching modes. Wanna know in detail?

actually, I am not using the Ageia right now. i am trying to get the soundcard ironed out first. I cant imagine that i am overloding my PSU even with Ageia but you guys know more than me. Its a good one that peaks at 825w.

"Seeing as how at this point you only hear interference in the RF channel - how are the speakers connected to your card? I'm guessing you have Line1, Line2 and Line3 plugged into the back, or do you use a seperate console plugged into the AUD connector, or do you only have one line and seperate remote channel splitter?"

"Reason I ask, is that EMI can also interfere with the signal being sent through the cable - if you have 3 seperate plugs at the back of the card, the one leading to your front channel might be picking up EMI from some appliance or other high powered device (Plasma TV, some DVR tuners, etc). If this might be the case, you can try re-routing your audio cables, and if it gets better, but the noise is still present, you might want to look into buying some shielded audio cable."


As far as EMI due to cables, that may be an issue as I am using the 3 analog wires that came with my speakers. I cant remember if it crackled using toslink with DDLIVE. I will check that out. It sounds much better using the analog out since I get the benifit of the Auzen hardware. I will try moving the analog wires around since they are surrounded by all kinds of other power lines and wiring. So far, other than the crackle, everything is ok since I moved the card. Thanks for the input guys!