X-FI Platinum vs Fatality?

I'm wondering your thoughts on which of the above would be better.

I know the Fatality comes with 64Megs of X-RAM instead of the 2 that come with the Platinum...but is it really worth the price difference?

I could get a new G5 mouse and the Platinum or just the Fatality for the same amount of cabbage...

Thanks

 

to tell you the truth.....you probly wont be able to tell the difference in sound quality....and if youre a gamer im surprised youre even spending money on a sound card hahahha...most of us just use our onboard 5.1, 7.1, 8.1, etc.....if you really must i would buy the platinum and a new g5 mouse....a mouse is a much bigger deal for gaming than ultra high quality sound that you barely can even tell the diff between....

 

Definitely a hoax, since when does a sound card increase video performance? Sounds kinda good theoretically, but I'm sure there is no difference experimentally.

This is about as big a hoax as my AGP 8x is better than your 4x.

 

It doesnt increase video preformance, but it does take a little load of the CPU. Gains of 10% can be expected.

With the X-ram, im not sure if that would increase at all. Oh the things i would test if i were a reviewer and had everything available to me!

 

Well, save up at get the mouse later, in my opinion. The 64megs oif ram off loads the pc so everything is done on the soundcard instead of runing back and forth over the bus. Since it is using much less (if not none at all) system memory, the pc can dedicate more to the other things that need to be done. This will yeild a better performance over all.

 

I've used both the extreme music version and fatality. They both seem the same as far as performance goes. Unless an application is written to take advantage of the 64mb of ram I'm not sure if it helps at this time. My games do sound better, but since I run 2 7800gt's the fps should be higher :nerd:

 

there arent any games out right now that could possibly take advantage of the 64mb ram on the fatality. but u can bet that some will be rolling out soon

 

Read Guru3d's review of the Audigy 2ZS and see where FPS benchmarks are compared with other soundcards, onboard and no sound. Then come back and tell us its a hoax.

 

The whole point about adding a good sound card is to improve your Audio subsystem.. I see so many guys who have these awsome video cards but have less then adequate Audio Systems.. The difference is like night and day..I don't care what onboard you have it's used primarily as a sales tacitc..A sound card increases gaming performance BECAUSE when your using your onboard you have no APU..so your CPU has to do all the calculations for reverb and delay and anything else you may have turned on..If you install a dedicated sound card then you have a DSP chip that will handle these things instead of off loading them to your processor...This is a secondary benift to buying a addin sound card the first being BETTER SOUND. Onboards sound bad, and if you can't hear it, either you need Q-tips or your fooling yourself into thinking you don't need a addin. THe sound very sterile,cold, harch,edgy. The feffects are somewht overwhelming to say the least. I do really feel sorry for a "Gamer" who thinks he doesan't need a sound card. Why don't you just use onboard Video aswell? why because it doesn't hold a candle to a addin..same with Audio...If you buy one you will never go with out one again..just my opinions though..

 

alanm, as Robscix has pointed out obviously there is going to be a difference in performance between onboard sound and having a sound card.

I honestly don't believe there is going to be a noticeable difference when it comes to the Fatality vs. Platinum as the other users have noted. The RAM on the sound card just simply won't make a difference. It's an advertising scheme.

If you have a ****ty and poorly designed sound card, then that might bottleneck your system to some small extent, but every Creative card is well built and should be the same performance wise.

 

I have heard many speculations regarding the X-Ram. Whatever it's for I don't think it's utilized right now..I think it more for emerging technologies...What I and others came up with s that it will function as a cache..let's see...Ok the new 20KX DSP chips apply effects to a sound sample by breaking it up into smaller pieces it's called Band Splitting...Now if you consider High resolution samples 24/96 or 24/192 then if these samples are split into say 4 in the case of 192 4X48Khx - 192Khz then all this band splitting and effects application would need some Ram to function as a storage tank...Especially in an example of a game where there are multiple streams containg highe res sample all band split and effects applied then all put back together,,and outputed..well you see why these ne X-fi's contain so many transistors and certain models contain X-Ram. I was surpried it was not added to the X_music as for music creation but I guess it doesn't need to accomplish anything at high speeds. As was pointed out I think you will seee games in the near future that are X-fi Ready..etc..THan again it could all be marketing hype...You be the judge...

 

Dude, and how many games do you know that make use of those 64 megs?

I, personaly know one - BF2

Of course there will be more, but anyway, it's better to get a good mice, than +5 FPS (in games that support XRAM)

I've got X-Fi Platinium and it rocks. Best value of all X-Fi's.

 

i didn't even know that they even produced games yet that utilizes xram.

 

Hey man it's your money I would say just grab a X-Fi XM as well, thats a lot of extra money for the gamer model...but who cares? sound wise they will sound the same..If you want the mouse grab it up...I was looking at this line of cards a while ago but I decide no to all of them...I am grabbing a dedicated recording card..and I 'll just use this A2 for the little biut of gaming I do. THe money I would spend on a X-fi would get me a very Nice recording card instead..I have my eyes on a nice M-audio card...BUt I agre with you totally...you probably won't notice any performance increase from the RAM until games come out that take advatage of it...I like imediate returns on my upgrades...Your money though dude, I would get the Mouse and the X-Music..then your all good..

 

Agreed. XM + mice and you're set.

 

I am in the same spot right now..that I have money for parts..but I keep changing my mind as to what part I am getting..first a HDD..then a X-FI...Now a M-audio Delta 1010LT..and Mics... Always try to get the most for your money the more toys to play with the better..I will still have to get the HHD but thats later on..

 

Yeah that's the key, getting the most for your money. Especially in this world of sound where it's soo expensive to get nice materials and there's so little profit to cover expenses.

 

Well I want a profesional Audio setup So I have to buy it piece by piece. Eventually it will come together.. I can't wait to hear wait a Delta 1010Lt will cound like in Multi channel mode with a good DVD etc...I will be getting Monitors soon enough But for now I will have to hook up my surround speakers. Getting the most for the money is the key..I am actually buying the Delta from the US becuase if I do I get a Free Microphone aswell and it is still cheaper even with taxes and conversion rates and shipping...Just excited to get such a nice toy...I do have plans to open a Private recording studio sooner or later..

 

i have some good speakers and my sound card is great but for $280 for this card hmm there only 4 games that use X-Ram, True Crimes new york city coming for pc in march and BF2 and stubbs the zombie. for 280 i will buy a tv tuner from ati that cost $120 and and HQ mouse less then $200

 

most people have crappy pc speakers like creative or logitech on there computers which wastes the increase in sound quality you get with a real speaker system