Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Soundcard purchase + problem

If you touch your software enough does it become hardware?

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spoodie
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Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Soundcard purchase + problem

Post by spoodie »

This reminds me that I need a new soundcard. I bought an Asus Xonar, the cheapest one at the time, thinking it would be a good alternative to the Creative option. Give the competition a chance. But that didn't work out very well as the game support isn't perfect, so I'm using the on-board as it just works.

I think this one looks like a good balance between cheapness and something that'll be significantly better than the on-board: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/121761

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split from headphones thread
Last edited by spoodie on April 30th, 2010, 11:10, edited 2 times in total.
buzzmong
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Post by buzzmong »

spoodie wrote:I think this one looks like a good balance between cheapness and something that'll be significantly better than the on-board: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/121761
Yeah, I think I've got one of those. Works fine.
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Post by spoodie »

buzzmong wrote:Yeah, I think I've got one of those. Works fine.
That'll do me, ordered.
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Post by HereComesPete »

:wave: Got one too. Never had any problems with it, sound seems perfectly fine to my fucked up ears.
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Post by spoodie »

Semi-fail. The sound works in-game, which is good as this is a my gaming PC, but all else seems to have a weird almost complete volume fading and reverberation problem. I've tested flash videos and one mp3 in VLC. I'm using the default Windows 7 drivers from MS. I've tried the ones from the Creative website and those stop all sound, so I rolled back to a restore point.

Any ideas and those with the card, what drivers are you using?
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Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

I assume you've cleaned old drivers off? disabled onboard sound in bios?

Might be worth trying another PCI slot if you have one.
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Post by Grimmie »

Creative try and pimp out their "Crystalisation" and "Virtual surround" technology on their X-Fi cards.
If you install the software for it, can you see any options to turn those off? They're generally a bit pants.
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Post by spoodie »

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:I assume you've cleaned old drivers off? disabled onboard sound in bios?
Well I uninstalled the device from the device manager and said yes to uninstall the drivers. Is there more you can do? I have disabled on-board.
Dr. kitteny berk wrote:Might be worth trying another PCI slot if you have one.
I thought of this last night while watching TV, but that was such a long time ago and I'd forgotten. I'll try that now. Ta!
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Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

Grimmie wrote:Creative try and pimp out their "Crystalisation" and "Virtual surround" technology on their X-Fi cards.
If you install the software for it, can you see any options to turn those off? They're generally a bit pants.
That, too.

There's a disable enhancements option in the soundblaster tab in soundcard properties thing, use it.
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Post by spoodie »

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:There's a disable enhancements option in the soundblaster tab in soundcard properties thing, use it.
That was the key, thanks a lot. And I didn't have to install any crappy Creative software. :whew:
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Post by Grimmie »

:thrust: I HELPED
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Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

I always forget about that fucker.

Mainly because I install drivers, then disable everything I possibly can.

Oh, it might be worth installing alchemy, it's meant to make EAX work on Fista/7, assuming you give a crap about EAX.
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Post by spoodie »

Grimmie wrote::thrust: I HELPED
Don't worry, I'll be sure to include you in my thank you speech. :)

I tried the Alchemy software is but it's wants a file which isn't included and sucks like all the other Creative software. Ah well, I'm not too bothered.
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Post by HereComesPete »

Yeah, best to ignore it all if you can. I had a few problems so I installed it and turned everything (one thing) good it did on and everything else off.
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Post by Akiakaiu »

I returned mine when it didn't work with windows 7 and got the xonar. Why spend the money for all the bells and whistles when you need to turn them off.

I'm not sure if I had the same problem though, mine would just play 2~3 seconds of a mp3 or video and the just get stuck is loop where it stopped. I tried any driver I could to help and when I found ones that worked I couldn't expand stereo or use any of the features.
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Post by HereComesPete »

The bells and whistles are motly shite imo. They just add weird effects to my music.
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Post by Akiakaiu »

I was stuck with stereo sound, that's the main reason it went back. I have a 5.1 setup and that's why I got the card. Wanted a step up from my on board. But you are right, most of them are just dumb reverb effects and such.
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Post by spoodie »

It turns out my card was defaulted to 7.1 using 2.1 speakers. The bells and whistles can now be turned on without issue now, if I wanted.
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