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HD Audio or X-fi ?

S

syzygy

Diamond Member
i'm in a 'planning-to-build' frame of mind and i was curious if i can direct more money towards a better conroe gaming mobo and not have to consider any of the x-fi soundcards.

how does HD-Audio compare to X-fi ?
 
hd good enough, xfi certainly isn't 130+ dollars better, money better spent on better m/b/system components. plus, i'd rather not support the creative monopoly.
 
WARNING
Any requests for hardware recommendations need to include a budget limit.
If no budget limit is posted, it's assumed that the request is for actual hardware recommendations, regardless of cost.
 
i'm guessing/figuring HD-Audio is good enough. but is the difference noticeable to a non-audiophile ? i'm not sure what the price difference will be yet
because there are not enough conroe boards on the market. i probably not splurge beyond 200.00 for a mobo IF i can rule out an X-fi. right now i'm
favoring something from the nforce 5 pile.
 
Integrated audio has improved greatly. The X-Fi is a great sound card and I'm sure it would test out better then just about any onboard HD-Audio but the question is how good dose it really have to be?, and would you even be able to hear the difference?

Even an average implantation of HD-Audio is probably equivalent to a generation or two back discrete sound card, a good implantation is probably pretty close to the X-Fi.
 
To the people complaining about Creative's drivers, do you actually own an X-Fi or have you installed one? Most likely the answer is 'no'. 😛

I've installed several X-Fi XM's and Platinum's. The X-Fi allows you to do a complete custom install. Use the original cd to install the consoles (audio cr., game, entertainment) only, then download and install the latest driver from Creative's website. I've had zero driver-related problems, full functionality of the card, and I have no bloat.

In most cases the Xtreme Music can be had for $80 after rebate. However if you have HD Audio on your mobo try it out first and you may be pleasantly surprised.
 
i used to have the x-fi from my socket 939 system before i upgraded, and it was a hell of a lot better than AC97 audio. but then i got a conroe system with the gigabyte DS3, and i have to say that the ALC 883 is a HUGE step up from AC97. i had a hard time seeing any improvement with the x-fi, so i sold it. the x-fi might use up slightly less CPU, but the azalia audio doesn't use up a whole lot of the CPU either, so i'd much rather spend the extra cash on a faster video card. after all, $100-130 is the difference between a 7600GT and a X1900XT 256MB, which would net you MUCH more than the x-fi ever could.

save your money. go with the onboard audio right now. if you really don't like it, then buy an x-fi.
 
What speakers / headphones are you going to end up using?

If you're using a $150 or less 5.1 system, it probably doesn't make sense to spend ~$80+ on a soundcard. If you're hooking it up to one of the top computer speaker sets, or going into the "real speakers" range, then yeah, it might be a good idea.

If you're doing this for just a performance standpoint vs sound quality, then you might be better off just putting that money towards your videocard budget depending on what you have planned at the moment.

 
Originally posted by: gobucks
i used to have the x-fi from my socket 939 system before i upgraded, and it was a hell of a lot better than AC97 audio. but then i got a conroe system with the gigabyte DS3, and i have to say that the ALC 883 is a HUGE step up from AC97. i had a hard time seeing any improvement with the x-fi, so i sold it. the x-fi might use up slightly less CPU, but the azalia audio doesn't use up a whole lot of the CPU either, so i'd much rather spend the extra cash on a faster video card. after all, $100-130 is the difference between a 7600GT and a X1900XT 256MB, which would net you MUCH more than the x-fi ever could.

save your money. go with the onboard audio right now. if you really don't like it, then buy an x-fi.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

X-Fi is a great card, but few people have the audio components on the other end to really make it shine. Which means waste of money.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
What speakers / headphones are you going to end up using?

If you're using a $150 or less 5.1 system, it probably doesn't make sense to spend ~$80+ on a soundcard. If you're hooking it up to one of the top computer speaker sets, or going into the "real speakers" range, then yeah, it might be a good idea.

If you're doing this for just a performance standpoint vs sound quality, then you might be better off just putting that money towards your videocard budget depending on what you have planned at the moment.
Click to expand...


true, but i'd raise that to atleast 300 dollars on speakers before you could even pretend you could tell the difference, and even then its questionable, you would probably need to spend more. course i'm talking about audio quality not eax effects. and well not that it matters for some games anyways since many don't support creatives proprietary audio enhancement stuff.
 
Originally posted by: bamacre
Creative's drivers are enough to keep me satisfied with integrated HD audio.
Click to expand...

My Audigy 2 ZS has flawless drivers (I install just the drivers and the EAX control panel, no other software).

My old SB Live is another story, after fighting the drivers on it for an entire week, I thought that I would never purchase another creative labs product.........
 
Originally posted by: Pabster
Originally posted by: gobucks
i used to have the x-fi from my socket 939 system before i upgraded, and it was a hell of a lot better than AC97 audio. but then i got a conroe system with the gigabyte DS3, and i have to say that the ALC 883 is a HUGE step up from AC97. i had a hard time seeing any improvement with the x-fi, so i sold it. the x-fi might use up slightly less CPU, but the azalia audio doesn't use up a whole lot of the CPU either, so i'd much rather spend the extra cash on a faster video card. after all, $100-130 is the difference between a 7600GT and a X1900XT 256MB, which would net you MUCH more than the x-fi ever could.

save your money. go with the onboard audio right now. if you really don't like it, then buy an x-fi.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

X-Fi is a great card, but few people have the audio components on the other end to really make it shine. Which means waste of money.
Click to expand...

anything with a 2.1-7.1 w/subs will put the X-fi to good use.

x-fi will always dominate. if you're gonna go that far to try and see what the x-fi has to offer, itz a hundred bucks from the FS/T forum.

Even Best Buy usually has the X-fi hit 99 bucks for a few days. by the way, I got Dream Fall for 20 bucks from there, it was gaming goodness with the X-fi on that game! but I still think the 1st Longest Journey has way better vocals, way... better~
 
for me it's unnecessary. i don't have HD audio, but i can't tell the difference either. i don't have the best speakers either so i don't see a reason for a xi-fi. if i had a $200 pair of speakers, then yeah i might get a xi-fi. but since i'm not audiophile, i don't see a reason to get a xi-fi. before you get one, consider whether the money might be bette spent on getting good speakers.
 
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