X-Fi elite or X-Fi extremegamer Fata1ity?

[blackjackel]

Building a 5k budget computer for my brother... I'm stuck between these two cards and i'm not quite sure which to get.

He's using the computer primarily for gaming.

Original thread here:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?p=5117613&posted=1#post5117613

He wants the best possible sound experience, one of these cards is designed for gamers, the other is just "Elite",

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102191


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

[>HyperlogiK<]

They are both very similar cards, the elite pro just has a different (more awkward) breakout box and some slightly better components.

However from what most people have been saying the X Ram on these cards is pretty pointless and you are just as good getting an extreme music or platinum. Another point is that the x-fi's in general (not sure if it applies to the Elite Pro though I suspect that it does, and it is definitely true of the fata1ity) have crap opamps and power filter capacitors meaning that the sound quality isn't that good. However Azuntech is supposed to be about to release (or maybe they already have) a much better card called the Auzen X-Fi Prelude with the same DSP as the X-Fi's and supporting all of the X-Fi's fancy features.

http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_prelude.php

[blackjackel]

What a thorough response, thanks!

Yeah, I heard about the X-ram thing being useless as not too many programs use it... though there's a chance it will be implemented in the future... Although if it hasn't caught on yet, then it probably won't.

I didn't hear about the crappy circuit board quality though, you would think you'd be getting something good for a card that costs more than 150 bucks....

I wonder how much this newer better card is going to cost? Do you think its going to be under 300 bucks? Thanks for the link anyways, I'm going to try and keep track of it...

Now the challenge seems to be to find a set of speakers that will take advantage of this kick ass sound system... It seems that newegg doesn't have much of a variety when it comes to 7.1 speakers.... It's hard work doing research for every single part to find the best! Gah!

It seems like the creative gasworks is a good set of spearks... too bad they die after a year.... If it were my own system I'd get the gigaworks, open the speakers up, and stick on a bunch of heat sinks to them so hopefully they won't die out after just a year. But I know he wants his system to look good too... so that's not an option... maybe i'll just get those speakers plus the 3 years extended warrent so that when they DO die, we just send em in for repair :)

[CrazyIrish]

If that card does everything it claims, and does it well, I think it might be worth $300.

[>HyperlogiK<]

A few UK stockists have it on pre-order for about £110-120, and considering the US-UK price gap that probably translates to ~ $170-$180.

It has the X-RAM if you are ever likely to need it. It doesn't seem to come with any kind of breakout box as standard, but it seems to support them:

"has the same expandability as the Auzentech X-Meridian™ 7.1"

[blackjackel]

what is a breakout box anyways? Is that the thing that goes in a 5.25" bay and lets you control the bas treble and such?

By the way, thanks to you I'm going to tell my brother to use the onboard audio in the meantime and just wait for the card you recommended...

[Fathom1990]

Yeah, or with the elite pro it sits on top of your case.