Creative Shows Off PCIe X-Fi

[Big B]

I think I echo many people when I say "About friggin' time!". It looks like Creative is getting ready to introduce a PCI Express x1 sound card in the X-Fi lineup. When is anybody's guess:

Now when and, movement advances to PCI Express from PCI, the X-Fi sound card of PCI Express edition probably is the feeling such as the long-awaited product just for those users. Regrettable, hearing in the nearby staff, concrete shipment time of these products and, as for product line-up and price you did not understand, but if you look at the card, with it seems that is already completed, that, it is thought product shipment is not particularly far.

That's been translated to English, so yes, it does read a little funny.

 

[Swansen]

i've seen audio cards on PCIe for sale, so is this just stating that creative is now starting this or what

 

[Big B]

I haven't. Not outside of those custom jobs Abit was using for awhile...

 

[StimpE]

And the real life actual performance gains from moving to PCI to PCI-e is...?

 

[Big B]

None, but then PCI is faster than needed for sound cards too. But that's not the point. PCIe is here to replace PCI, PCI-X and AGP in one fell swoop. AGP is on life support and PCI will also be going the way of the dodo. Whats taking time is companies implementing products that we see in PCI format in PCIe. Those PCIe x1 slots aren't there just for looks.

 

[Addis]

I actually thought most modern sound cards were already using PCIe!

 

[Big B]

I don't see any at places like Newegg. This is the first PCIe sound card I've seen. If someone has something to show to prove me wrong, have at it, but PCIe cards outside of video cards are still building up to a change-over.

 

[Willz]

Does this mean my X-Fi Fatal1ty will be Obsolete and dead within 2 years and i will NEED to upgrade to a mobo with PCI-E 1x?

 

[Addis]

Any hardware is obsolete in 2 years, so I fail to see your worry. I wonder why you must always upgrade your PC every 3 months. I bet you can't tell the difference between your current sound card and the next high end one.

Your sound card will not die in 2 years, spare a thought for those of us using integrated sound.

 

[Swansen]

PCIe sound card - Froogle
PCIe sound cards, reason i even mentioned anything is that asus or its looks like asus has a sound card that come pre bundled with one of their new boards and its looks like PCIe x1

 

[Big B]

Well, it does look like at least the professional level cards are there, which I wasn't aware of. I don't know anything about most of those brands listed, but judging by the price, they're not in the same class as X-Fi, as they're marketed at audio production. A lot of those cards in that search don't even have any jacks on the back of the card, so while, yes they are sound cards, they're not in the same class as an X-Fi, which is marketed for playback.

With Asus and other companies, those are proprietary cards that are used in conjunction with the on-board sound.

 

[DaRuSsIaMaN]

I bet you can't tell the difference between your current sound card and the next high end one.

lol I still use a Creative Soundblaster PCI 512 which came out b4 windows 2k or XP existed ... hmmm what do u guys think, should I upgrade? :P

 

[Willz]

Lol i bet my intergrated sound is as good as that old thing :P

I should hope though that my X-Fi even tho PCI should last along time, even like 3 years, because i mean games still havent took full advantage of it, X-Ram aint been used yet..

 

[Big B]

Can you say 'marketing gimmick'? ;)

 

[Willz]

Yea, i am aware that its a marketing gimic, but if game developers do decide to take advantage of the X-Ram, then i would expect it to give better performance in games.

 

[Matt555]

Yea, i am aware that its a marketing gimic, but if game developers do decide to take advantage of the X-Ram, then i would expect it to give better performance in games.

I can't see any real benefit of that XRAM or whatever. So you may get a few more FPS (and only a few at the very most) out of your games because more load is put on the soundcard and less on the rest of the system - if you're that worried about getting every last FPS then see a doctor :P

 

[Willz]

Lol, i aint, but surely it should be able to make a difference eventually, maybe more advanced effects, but still i dont think the X-Fi is ever been used ot its full potential.

Saying the X-Ram is useless is like saying, who needs ram on a graphics card....

 

[Anti-Trend]

No, it'd be more like saying "who needs RAM on something which won't be caching static sample sets in an era where the average home computer is already massively overpowered for basic audio processing"... so I guess nobody does.

 

[Willz]

But surely as games get more advanced, maybe the X-ram will become usefull eventually?

 

[Addis]

Lol, i aint, but surely it should be able to make a difference eventually, maybe more advanced effects, but still i dont think the X-Fi is ever been used ot its full potential.

Saying the X-Ram is useless is like saying, who needs ram on a graphics card....

What if you don't have a Creative sound card? XRAM is an X-Fi only feature and so if I was a developer, I'd seriously think before dedicating time and money to cater for a proprietary product which hardly anyone has. To become useful eventually it needs to be useful now.