Creative Unveils X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Series PCI-E Sound Cards

[Mussels]

Say hello to my next card:

So your Audigy box came with a print which read it supported Windows Vista? In case you forgot, Audigy users can now download and use ALchemy for free and legal.

oh they changed it to free did they?

Regarldess, without daniel K's drivers it is missing features. The website states the audigy card supports several features (such as dolby decoding, amongst others) that simply didnt work until daniel K enabled them. Are you aware that in vista with an audigy card, ALL we get is the windows volume slider and speaker settings? none of the creative apps are there, so we cant enable any of the advanced features.

oh and have fun with the asus card, they seem to be doing well at the moment. (i'm waiting hopefully for a shorter card that will fit in my matx rig)

 

[Rebo&Zooty]

indeed it can serve that purpose. Its just that i (and many others) dont think that should be neccesary - if i pay for the product, i shouldnt have to go ask some other random guy to make it work. It should work out of the box, with all advertised features.

nothing below an X-fi does, or daniel K wouldnt be modding the drivers. when the next gen cards come out, you'll find you get dropped as well.

exectly

 

[btarunr]

oh and have fun with the asus card, they seem to be doing well at the moment. (i'm waiting hopefully for a shorter card that will fit in my matx rig)

Thanks. The card in the pic is a Xonar DX. It's fully low-profile compatible and the package includes a low-profile bracket. It sells for ~$80 in the US. If you find it, buyyy eeetttt!

 

[imperialreign]

It can be done in software and you can customize each IRQ with PCI Latency Config 3 (supports x64 too).

yeah, but that's a hassel - especially if you have to reconfigure after each boot

besides, for the average user . . .


. . . it's sad, though, what has become "restricted" in a locked OEM BIOS. I've seen some where the only thing the end user can set is Date/Time . . . and that's it. :shadedshu WTF even have a setup menu, y'know?

Thanks. The card in the pic is a Xonar DX. It's fully low-profile compatible and the package includes a low-profile bracket. It sells for ~$80 in the US. If you find it, buyyy eeetttt!

TRAITOR!!!


j/k


That's the first low-profile Xonar I've seen, are they new to the market?

damn, it's even got an AC97/Azalie front panel connector as well . . . you lucky dog! What I wouldn't give for one of those headers on my card, instead of this proprietary garbage





Kinda back on topic:


Creative offer support for hardware much longer than other hardware manufacturer's do. It was just the end of last year when they finally cut the Live! series, and they were 10 years old.

Audigy was looking questionable, but after Creative decided to make ALchemy free for Audigy users, I get the feeling they intend to continue it's support for some more time to come.

Hopefully, though, after the Dan_k driver debacle, the next driver release will be heaven-sent . . . I've got high hopes Creative will turn their act around <knock on wood>

 

[btarunr]

TRAITOR!!!


j/k


That's the first low-profile Xonar I've seen, are they new to the market?

damn, it's even got an AC97/Azalie front panel connector as well . . . you lucky dog! What I wouldn't give for one of those headers on my card, instead of this proprietary garbage

What's more, it uses the same DAC as XG Fatal1ty Pro:

X-Fi 2 is the same CA20K1 with more software-enabled features, leaves me with no reason to upgrade. Therefore, ASUS.

Only when Creative comes up with something genuinely new, I'll consider it.

 

[imperialreign]

What's more, it uses the same DAC as XG Fatal1ty Pro:

X-Fi 2 is the same CA20K1 with more software-enabled features, leaves me with no reason to upgrade. Therefore, ASUS.

I completely understand on the no upgrade deal . . . so you know for sure the new X-Fis are still stouting CA20K1, then, huh?


Hard to tell from that pic, but that's defi a Cirrus Logic DAC . . . I just can't read the chip number . . . I like how the regulators, DAC, and ADC are on the backside of the board, and how neatly organized the capacitor placement is on the front . . . very professional looking card.

Does it come with a shield like the D2X does?

 

[btarunr]

I completely understand on the no upgrade deal . . . so you know for sure the new X-Fis are still stouting CA20K1, then, huh?


Hard to tell from that pic, but that's defi a Cirrus Logic DAC . . . I just can't read the chip number . . . I like how the regulators, DAC, and ADC are on the backside of the board, and how neatly organized the capacitor placement is on the front . . . very professional looking card.

Does it come with a shield like the D2X does?

No shield At least I get my Dolby decode. My a$$hole brother took my Auzen away and doesn't look to be in a mood to return it.

Yes, I believe Creative would continue to use CA20K1, at best they could modify it to have a bus translation logic on die, call it CA20K{something else}, remember what they did to EMU10K? Made it whore across two distinct generations of cards. So Creative has to come up with an entirely new APU to get my cash, else I think I'll be pretty happy with this X-Fi and the upcoming ASUS card.

 

[imperialreign]

No shield At least I get my Dolby decode. My a$$hole brother took my Auzen away and doesn't look to be in a mood to return it.

Yes, I believe Creative would continue to use CA20K1, at best they could modify it to have a bus translation logic on die, call it CA20K{something else}, remember what they did to EMU10K? Made it whore across two distinct generations of cards. So Creative has to come up with an entirely new APU to get my cash, else I think I'll be pretty happy with this X-Fi and the upcoming ASUS card.

Sucks you lost that Auzen . . . I'd be royally pissed . . .

At least not having a shield on that Xonar model, you shouldn't have to worry about PCB component EMI - I figure the PCB itself will provide enough insulation from the OPAMPs and caps to not cause interference with the converters and regulators on the backside . . . but EMI from other SYS components might be an issue, though . . .

I figure you're prob right on the CA20K1, especially considering Creative's current track record; but I don't intend to draw conclusions until we can see what the new PCBs will look like . . . but considering these new cards must've been under development last year, possibly beginning of this year, before the PR blunder, I'm not getting my hopes up.


As it stands, though, I'm getting the impression that the X-Fi series is going to turn out like the Audigys did . . . too many cards, and series "revisions" Which means that a complete new architecture is still a couple of years down the road. My Fatal1ty will serve me well until then, and possibly further after the card is hard-modded beyond it's current audio quality and capabilites. If for some reason I do plan to purchase a new card soon, I've given the D2X some serious thought, and I might even consider the AC-1; but that's if I decide to purchase something else.

Seeing as how I spend more time gaming, I'd like to stick with a dedicated APU over a chipset.

 

[Rebo&Zooty]

yeah, but that's a hassel - especially if you have to reconfigure after each boot

besides, for the average user . . .


. . . it's sad, though, what has become "restricted" in a locked OEM BIOS. I've seen some where the only thing the end user can set is Date/Time . . . and that's it. :shadedshu WTF even have a setup menu, y'know?







TRAITOR!!!


j/k


That's the first low-profile Xonar I've seen, are they new to the market?

damn, it's even got an AC97/Azalie front panel connector as well . . . you lucky dog! What I wouldn't give for one of those headers on my card, instead of this proprietary garbage





Kinda back on topic:


Creative offer support for hardware much longer than other hardware manufacturer's do. It was just the end of last year when they finally cut the Live! series, and they were 10 years old.

Audigy was looking questionable, but after Creative decided to make ALchemy free for Audigy users, I get the feeling they intend to continue it's support for some more time to come.

Hopefully, though, after the Dan_k driver debacle, the next driver release will be heaven-sent . . . I've got high hopes Creative will turn their act around <knock on wood>

acctualy it depends on the live card you had, creative NEVER put out proper vista drivers and it took them over a year to get x64 beta drivers out, and those where like the audigy drivers for vista, just the very base settings.

the older live cards pre 5.1 didnt get any real updates, i cant remmber how it went but there i think was an audigy card that used the came chip as the live 5.1, and the live 24bit was basickly a value audigy card(worse then the 5.1 live by a good bit)

creatives got horrible record for acctualy updating drivers or putting out drivers for new os's, when 2k came out i had to use drivers that an OEM company acctualy payed 3rd party developers to creat(the OEM had used awe32/64 and sb16 cards in pretty much eveyr system they sold) because creative was farking around......again other chip makers had drivers out eather along side 2k OR within a couple months they had a full driver, betas earyer then that.

i know my tutle beach card and my old yahama cards had KICKASS drivers for 2k within weeks of 2k going RTM, where my awe64(the highest end isa model) didnt get proper drivers till i found those OEM drivers, then creative put out drivers eventuly, but htey where buggy

creatives hardware normaly is good, its the software and support side that suck.

tho they also have a problem not properly testing their hardware designes, as you saw with the sblive and boards of its day, and the x-fi with nf4, the list goes on and on.

oh and no, it dosnt take a high end card to get the x-fi to crackle, i just confermed it with a buddy, he had an x300, then x700, also a 6200 card in that rig, all had the problem even after rma to creative to get a card that was updated, creative blamed nvidia, we blamed creative since if they had stuck to PCI specs that wouldnt have been an issue, he took my turtle beach card( wish i hadent given it to him!!!) it was a 8768 based card, hes still using it, sold the x-fi on ebay.

creative comes out with good CHIPS, the problem is their pcb and drivers.........

its like putting a v8 in a geo metro.........

 

[btarunr]

Sucks you lost that Auzen . . . I'd be royally pissed . . .

At least not having a shield on that Xonar model, you shouldn't have to worry about PCB component EMI - I figure the PCB itself will provide enough insulation from the OPAMPs and caps to not cause interference with the converters and regulators on the backside . . . but EMI from other SYS components might be an issue, though . . .

I figure you're prob right on the CA20K1, especially considering Creative's current track record; but I don't intend to draw conclusions until we can see what the new PCBs will look like . . . but considering these new cards must've been under development last year, possibly beginning of this year, before the PR blunder, I'm not getting my hopes up.


As it stands, though, I'm getting the impression that the X-Fi series is going to turn out like the Audigys did . . . too many cards, and series "revisions" Which means that a complete new architecture is still a couple of years down the road. My Fatal1ty will serve me well until then, and possibly further after the card is hard-modded beyond it's current audio quality and capabilites. If for some reason I do plan to purchase a new card soon, I've given the D2X some serious thought, and I might even consider the AC-1; but that's if I decide to purchase something else.

Seeing as how I spend more time gaming, I'd like to stick with a dedicated APU over a chipset.

Lesson to learn: Don't show off your e-pen** to your older sibling that happens to be an IT guy, you'll be obliged to lend it.

Yes, we can sail though till a new APU comes up but we have to agree with Muzz, they'll probably estrange X-Fi users once X-Fi 2 comes up. At best they'll just put up drivers for Vista, nothing more.

 

[imperialreign]

The Live! series is roundabouts when Creative started going downhill with recycled cards and crap customer service and tech support. But, seeing as how the Live! was never intended to support Vista, I can't blame them for not having V drivers - the card was far past it's prime when Vista was released, and there are still quite a few users running them as well . . .


But, yes, the Audigy series featured a few rebranded Live! cards, as has the X-Fi series featured re-branded Audigy cards.

TBH, if you look at the Xtreme Gamer, is the same as an Audigy SE, and a couple of the early Audigy cards were re-branded Live! offerings. Hell, the Live! 24bit was basically a slimmed-down Audigy Value.



But, as much as it's kinda crooked, I can't blame them either for disabling support in their drivers - audio cards outlive every other component within a SYS, even in terms of service life. Without cutting support or functionality, users would never upgrade, and the company would make no money at all. This practice just hasn't been that apparent, as Creative have been the only major form of audio solution for the last 15 years.

Lesson to learn: Don't show off your e-pen** to your older sibling that happens to be an IT guy, you'll be obliged to lend it.

Yes, we can sail though till a new APU comes up but we have to agree with Muzz, they'll probably estrange X-Fi users once X-Fi 2 comes up. At best they'll just put up drivers for Vista, nothing more.

push comes to shove, there's always good 3rd party drivers, either Dan_k's or op-pax. Or continuing to run outdated drivers . . .

 

[Mussels]

creative dropped the lives that werent 24 bit - they NEVER got vista drivers. you needed daniel K's to make them work, and even then they were buggy.

The problem wasnt that they 'didnt release drives' its that the drivers they released were often hidden inside teh X-fi drivers (you had to unpack then with winrar and manually install them, not something an average user would do) and they rarely got updated on the website.

Even then, as i said before - all you got was a volume slider. None of the advanced features, none of the decoding options. Its the complete lack of effort from the SB live! series all the way to audigy 4 - dont think that they just ditched the older models, EVERYTHING below X-fi got dropped until daniel_k came along.

 

[Wile E]

Anybody find any reviews of these cards yet?

 

[Simri]

I remember hearing about that CPU load issue - but, then again, what manufacturer hasn't released a driver at some point that didn't either 1) cause a memory leak or 2) cause 100% CPU load?


Only reason Creative gets reamed on their software issues is cause they release only 1 or 2 driver packages a year . . . which means that if there are issues, you have to roll back and wait 7-8 months for the next update. That - is inane and retarded, IMO. I've even run into is before when running WIN XP Media Center for a short while - the only driver that worked with that OS was the one bundled on the CD; no driver update worked correctly - even though Creative listed is as being supported. At the very least, they could give us a set schedule so we know when to look forward to, instead of just releasing a driver whenever they feel like it.

onboard is starting to give Creative and C-Media a run for their money, for sure, and coupled with the vast amounts of users who can't hear a difference, or don't have decent enough speakers to hear the difference, Creative really needs to change their tune. You can sell people the new hardware, but when the majority of users are complaining about your customer service and tech support - they won't buy.

2008 i have tested 3 driver set on Creative Audigy 4 Pro (Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro)

Present im use Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Driver 2.15.0006 (2008-02-22/6.0.01.1304)
Works on all Audigy X /X-Fi/E-DSP (Windows XP/Vista)

 

[imperialreign]

Anybody find any reviews of these cards yet?

not yet . . .

 

[INSTG8R]

Thos Heradset plugs on the Drive bay look like mini jacks, I use sennheiser and my headset requires fullsize ,I am not happy they are moving to mini jack size.

Bah I think that Front Panel is a joke anyway and wouldn't waste the effort putting in...Heck I still look at my breakout box in mine and think I should just pull it out . BUT at least mine is useful. I have every audio connection you can shake a stick at on mine(in or out)
THAT is essentially a headphone jack pretending to be some sorta "break out box"

Im really not impressed with this card at ALL I see nothing but a cheap card in a new suit pretending to be special...

 

[Ionicdevil]

I like the fact that the gaming mode and volume control can be accessed conveniently through the i/o drive.. it's nice to see them making the x-fi available in pci-e version especially for those who need one for their pci-e slot cool color too!