Creative X-Fi vs onboard Crystal Sound 2

Associate
Joined
23 Oct 2004
Posts
2,441
Location
Brighton
Howdy.

Finally after 9 odd years on my XP desktop, rocking a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI card, I am moving to a new system.

So I am making the leap to Win 10 and an ASUS Mobo that has Crystal Sound 2 on board.

Seeing that quite a few years have passed, anyone know any pros about keeping the X-FI, or does Crystal Sound 2 surpass it, or is there zero difference?

Output will still be to a Logitech Z5500, or headphones via the Z5500 head unit.

Will a PCI 1 card even work in a PCI 3 port?

Ta.
 
Associate
Joined
26 Aug 2009
Posts
143
Definitely keep the sound card. When I bought Z97 board I tried on-board vs my back then X-Fi Extreme Gamer and it was night and a day difference althought hard to say how much of it comes down to Creative software and how much difference hardware makes.

As for your other question,
PCI card is compatible with PCI slots but not with PCI Express.
PCI-E card is compatible with any PCI-Express. x1, x4, x16, long or short, PCI-E gen 2 or PCI-E 3 it's all good.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2009
Posts
11,175
That board has no PCI only PCIe. Looks like you're going to have to try the onboard audio and see if you notice any difference between that and the X-Fi. If you do find it inferior (which wouldn't be surprising), then you'll have to buy a PCIe card.

Soundblaster Z, would seem like the logical choice, except many people find it's not as good as the X-Fi. Xonar DX would be a good alternative, although it doesn't have a headphone amp, which the SBZ does. Maybe that doesn't matter though if you are connecting headphones to the Z5500 pod.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
23 Oct 2004
Posts
2,441
Location
Brighton
Thanks for answering :)

Looks like I will just use on board sound to see how it fairs. I don't do any audio production (except some simple stuff). Shame as the Xfi has been rock solid over the past 10 years and the sound via the Z5500's has always been nice - I am a sucker for their crystallizer :)

Ta!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2009
Posts
11,175
Well if you like the crystalizer, then Xonar cards don't have their own version of that. SBZ does have something similar I think, but I forget what it's called.

If it was me though, I'd probably go for the DX, as too many people don't like the SBZ going from an X-Fi.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
2,599
I have the X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS is this as good or better than the X-Fi Extreme gamer?

I am using onboard sound - but wondering if I should use this card instead?

Is there windows 10 drivers available that are stable :D
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2009
Posts
11,175
I doubt there's much between the Fatality and Xtreme Gamer. All the X-Fi cards are very good, except the cheaper Xtreme Audio, which isn't actually an X-Fi.

Not too sure about Windows 10 drivers though. Not had an X-Fi in years and don't use W10. :p
 
Back
Top Bottom