Creative Labs X-fi Sound Blaster

[Fellfromgrace]

Does anyone know what kind of slot you will need for this card? I could be way off but I could have sworn I saw somewhere ya needed a PCI-E slot for it.if So I'm screwed cuz I only got one

[dsio]

No mate, it is a PCI card, and at this stage they are not making a PCI-E version, however a PCI-E version is comming after the initial release.

There are about 5 versions in all, all of which so far are PCI 2.2, not PCI-E so you are fine.

[saquib]

how exactly can a xi-fi make games have better fps? isnt fps 99% dependent on cpu, gpu, ram ? cud someone justify dat claim to me! i already own a audigy 2 zs. wud my games "really" be smoother or have more frame rates?

[Exile69]

Well, if you use a sound card you can avoid strain on the chipset if it has integrated audio, and the FPS gains would be very low.

[dsio]

It isnt so much that as it is taking load off the CPU. Having onboard memory on the X-Fi means that it will not have to use main system memory during games, furthermore, the CPU still handles much of the EAX calculations and effect processing even with the Audigy 2 / 4 cards. It has been getting better and better over time, to the point where EAX in itself uses almost no CPU cycles in its standard state, however the EAX Advanced HD (EAX 4.0) uses alot of CPU cycles.

That is how a sound card improves performance. An AC97 onboard with EAX emulation can consume 20% of a 2.4Ghz Pentium 4 processor's cycles. In comparison, a SBLive! would reduce that to 9%. An Audigy takes that down to 3%, and an Audigy 2 takes it down to 2%. Enabling EAX 4.0 on an Audigy 2 brings that back up to around 10% again. The X-Fi is a dedicated part that is designed to take as much stress off the CPU during gaming, and particularly EAX as possible.

That is how it makes it faster.

[Exile69]

Thanks for the clarification, dsio.

[saquib]

aah okay... thanx a lot for dat info dude