Which X-Fi Fata1ity card for my receiver?

[Wiggin]

I've read through this forum, but i'm still unclear on the differences between the different Fatal1ty cards. Currently i'm using an Envy-24 card with an optical out to connect to my receiver. I'm about to build a new computer that i'd like to have attached to the receiver but i'm not an audiophile by any means and am confused about which Fatal1ty card to choose. Although I do listen to alot of music/dvds on this computer, i'm more concerned about game sounds then anything. I've heard Fatal1ty series is the way to go, but i'm not sure what the differences are between these two cards.

FPS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102189

Pro:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102005

Obviously the FPS comes with a faceplate and the optical in/out, but it's also
$40 more. Should I be getting this one so I can connect to my receiver? Or is there an alternative way using the cheaper card? Also, any performance differences between these 2 cards if i'm not going to be recording audio?

[Spion]

if you can use RCA spdif on your receiver i would go with that and get an RCA to 3.5mm adapter and use that for digital out. if not, you're better off getting the FPS version since a digital RCA to optical will run you about $30. the downside to using the adapter is that you can't use the mic and digital out at the same time

[Wiggin]

Thanks for the quick response. Anytime i'm going to be gaming i'm going to need a mic, so that makes it easy. Thank you so much for the quick reply!

[Mr. Roboto]

first of all, when you game, you should't use optical. It wont be true 5.1, as your receiver will be mixing the channels, so it wont be true. You need to connect to the receiver over the 3 analog wires.

Also, when you use the digital out on a card, the card doesnt do any aound processing at all. If digital out is all your going to be using, then dont spend that much on a card at all.

[Wiggin]

Oh ok. I wasn't connecting using optical because of preference or anything, it was just the cable that came with my soundcard. Is there any reason i'd want to use digital out then? My setup for my computer is only 2.1 + a center channel. Can I use analog out with either of those 2 sound cards? Because if digital is useless for everything AND both of them can connect to my receiver, then I should just get the cheaper one.

[Mr. Roboto]

Oh, well first of all, I just assumed you had 5.1, sorry about that.

with 2.1, either analog or digital connections will be pretty much the same, but you would be better off letting your reciever doing the sound processing, so use the digital out on the back of the cheaper card.

But like I said, when you use digital out, the card acts as a pass through, in the sense that it doesnt do any work at all. You will get the same quality with a 20 dollar audigy 1 vs an expensive x-fi. it's only worth gettign an expensive card if your going to use analog out with 5.1/7.1 speakers.

Sorry if I made this confusing, just ask whatever you might be unclear about.

[Spion]

But like I said, when you use digital out, the card acts as a pass through, in the sense that it doesnt do any work at all. You will get the same quality with a 20 dollar audigy 1 vs an expensive x-fi. it's only worth gettign an expensive card if your going to use analog out with 5.1/7.1 speakers.

depends on the sound card. with an XFI that's true that it's only pass through. but if you get a card such as this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829156001) then it will do the encoding for you ;)

[UglyChild]

Even though X-Fi are good cards, i have always tried to recommend M-Audio cards. Do to much better audio output in my personal experience, and better compatibility, with out having to update your drivers every month.

[Nebuchadnazzar]

The Xplosion is a very nice card, i'm happy with mine, but it's not really necessary unless you have 5.1 on your receiver. Since you're just using stereo i'd suggest a lower cost card, i don't think the X-Fi will even use the EAX features on 2.1 speakers.
If you plan on upgrading to more speakers later (center) then the X-Fi will need analog cables running to the receiver for each channel.
With the digital encoding cards (Xplosion), you only need a single digital cable to the receiver, you also avoid distortion through the analog wires. The Xplosion and variants only support upto EAX 2.0 i believe.