Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card (70SB073A00000)
by Creative
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List Price: Our Price: $84.99 You Save: $14.91 (15%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $34.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card (70SB073A00000)
Customer Review: Has "What U Hear" (Stereo Mix or Wave Out) for Vista!
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is intended to help those who, like myself, have been pulling out their hair, looking for a sound card that provides a means to record what is heard through the speakers, directly from the system, in addition to the mic and line-in jacks. Among other names, this feature is called "What U Hear," "Stereo Mix," and "Wave Out."
I love my Gateway GM5632e (with Vista-32 Home Premium) in every respect, except for the on-board Sigmatel audio. Other than sounding good, it lacks the tweaky features of a decent sound card that I not only like to play with, but NEED. The feature I missed most was the ability to record streaming audio. There is much written elsewhere online on this subject, so I'll simply sum up by saying that acquiring this ability has been no small matter for many. Everything has been tried, from installing older sound card drivers, to Virtual Audio Cable(s) (and similar), to patching together the headphone and mic jacks. Well, you folks will be happy to know that your search can end here.
Over the past three days, I tried Sound Blaster's Audigy SE, XtremeAudio, and their Live! 24-bit External. None of them provided the ability to record "What U Hear." Then, I bought the XtremeGamer. After installation, and a search for online updates, that formerly elusive wave recording feature finally appeared. I installed it, and am now a very happy camper. It now works just like it did under XP.
Hope this helps someone. (Incidentally, I love everything else about the card.)
Customer Review: Pairs nicely with Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX speakers...
Summary: 5 Stars
I had a Bestbuy gift card burning a whole in my walet, so I decided to go out and get me nice soundcard. Would've been nice to get the Fatal1ty version but funds weren't permitting. Instead I went with the next best thing, the ExtremeGamer.
I'm loving it.
Physical installation was a breeze, I actually like getting into the case and looking around. Also gives me a chance to blow some canned air in there and get all the dust bunnies out and get a good look at the other additions I've made:
4GBs RAM (4 x 1GB) Crucial DDR2 PC2-4200
Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G PCI Card/Adapter
MSI (ATI) Radeon X800 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E x16
(and now) Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
All built around an Intel Pentium 4, 3.0 GHZ chip.
I know none of it is top of the line, but at one point it was a pretty decent rig.
Anyway, this audio card sounds great with the Klipsch 2.1 set up I have, and both of them being THX certified makes sure I'm getting great sound fidelity.
The DLing of the drivers was a breeze, cancel the attempt to search for drivers online and install disk (XP in my case) and a few clicks and about 15 minutes later. You're done.
This will be the last addition to my rig and I hope will last me for another 2 years or so when I'll hopefully build a new one.
(Ignore the name Lillian up top, that's the wife lol)
Customer Review: Groud loops cause blue screens aka BSOD
Summary: 3 Stars
The card and driver installed just fine. It drove my high-impedance headphones. Games now sound good with EAX, unlike my experience ten years ago where voice chat and voice overs got distorted. So, if it wasn't for the BSOD I'd probably give it 5 stars.
Unfortunately, this card is extremely susceptible to ground loops. Noise from a ground loop appears capable of bleeding into the digital circuits. A lot of folks incorrectly blame Creative's drivers, which is one of the two primary causes of the BSOD. The other cause is bad hardware, which is what we have here.
My ground loop was introduced by my powered speakers. These speakers allow for two inputs, but don't do anything special to isolated grounds. With a second PC plugged in to the speakers, the faint hum of a ground loop can be heard. In this state, when using X-Fi hardware, my machine crashes regularly.
I fixed the problem by using a Griffin Noise Reducing Audio Cable for the second PC. This is a small transformer that isolates the ground at the cost of a slight loss in signal quality. With the second PC not plugged in or using the transformer, I have not seen a single crash.
The system crashes also never happen when using the integrated sound instead of the X-Fi even though the same hum can be heard in this configuration.
Customer Review: excellent soundcard
Summary: 5 Stars
There is some misinformation posted here. First, "buyers beware" is incorrect. The card he is referring to is the XtremeAudio. This card - the XtremeGamer - is the genuine article "budget" x-fi card. That means it has all the x-fi guts without additional bells & whistles found on other more expensive versions.
Second, the motherboard issues reported by many users refer to the older versions of the x-fi. This is a new revision that has corrected the static and popping. I am using this card on an nf4 motherboard (DFI Ultra-D) with no problems at all.
I'd wager that neither of those reviews were written by people who actually own the card. This is an excellent sound card that provides a noticeable upgrade over onboard sound, even with just a 2.1 speaker system. The latest XP drivers appear to be very stable. I bought this card because it is compatible with Intel HD front audio ports that come standard on many cases (so you can plug your headphones in the front of your case).
I also bought it because I'm a gamer. The improvement in sound and 3D effects is startling at times when EAX is enabled. Switching to "entertainment" mode also brings superior quality music and DVD audio. The installation CD also installs a link in the start menu for a free download of Cyberlink PowerDVD, which is a nice bonus.
Customer Review: Simply Amazing
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this soundcard about 9 months ago. It deserves 5 stars, if not for the price. But, it was money well-spent.
First off: Will this work in DX10 games? Yes, although I do not have a reference - I do believe that Creative Labs has stated they create a driver for the X-Fi cards (Notice I said X-Fi, not audigy!) to work in DX10/Vista.
I am running this card on P7800 (7.1) speakers.
In battlefield 2, the difference in sound quality is astounding. I had thought that the sounds were pretty good when I was running my integrated audio on 7.1, wrong! Sounds are clearer, sharper, cleaner, far more realistic. It's almost as if you just walked into a puddle of water. Or, you've just shot a rifle. On normal quality, these sounds get muffled. The sound quality has to be reduced in order to keep it from greatly affecting the frame rates.
Yes, this sound card will increase your frame rates. Especially if you are like me and have more than 2 speakers. Now, I would not suggest to anyone with $20 walmart spealers: go out and buy this sound card.
Should you get this sound card? Yes! That is, if you are using good speakers and you want a realistic gaming experience.
My personal suggestion: P7800 or GigaWorks S750
Would I buy this card again? Yes.