Reviews

Creative Labs X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatal1ty Pro

comment Commentsprint Printemail EmailDeliciousDiggStumbleUponReddit

If you read our original review of the X-Fi way back in November 2005, you already know about this card. Back then, Creative packaged this exact same card with a drive bay and remote and charged an impossible to justify $280 for the X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS soundcard.

We ended up recommending its cheaper sibling, the X-Fi XtremeMusic instead.

Fast-forward a year and a half, ditch the remote and drive bay, and you’ve got the XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series priced at $130 less than the original. But does the X-Fi age like a fine wine or a punch-drunk palooka? For Creative, it’s pure vino!

Unlike the other two boards we tested here, the X-Fi continues to use a true DSP with “10,000 MIPS of power.” We don’t know how true that 10K figure is, but in our tests, the X-Fi remains the boss, especially when compared to the CMI8788, which is nothing more than a glorified I/O chip. In FEAR with graphics options cranked down and audio options cranked up to emphasize soundcard performance, the X-Fi led by 10 percent across the board. However, if C-Media ever releases multithreaded audio drivers, the day of the DSP will likely fade.

Of course, a good soundcard isn’t just about frame rates. In close listening using reference-quality earphones, two Maximum PC editors favored the X-Fi’s bottom-end push while listening to a variety of 24-bit audio.

We also give the edge in gaming fidelity to the X-Fi, as the subtle audio cues in games (in particular, Battlefield 2) stood out with this card. This may be due in part to the developer-relations money Creative spends to help developers utilize its technology. Most top games today support Creative’s OpenAL initiative, which is the only way to get hardware-accelerated positional audio in Microsoft Vista.

Although we think the X-Fi is the best of the cards tested here for general PC use, the real-time Dolby Digital encoding of the two other cards and optical SPDIF make them far better suited for home theater use. We must also note that the now-defunct XtremeMusic version of this card can still be found and is a better value. But for gamers, the X-Fi is the best choice.

Click to Enlarge

The X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro Series is essentially the original two-year-old card without the extras.

Creative Labs X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatal1ty Pro
www.creativelabs.com
plus
MIKE BOLTON

DSP gives it a performance edge.

minus
MICHAEL BOLTON

Pointless X-RAM.


BENCHMARKS
  X-Meridian 7.1
Fear 5.1 Min (FPS) 76
Fear 5.1 Avg (FPS) 154
Fear 5.1 Max (FPS) 308
Fear Dolby Digital Live Min (FPS) n/a
Fear Dolby Digital Live Avg (FPS) n/a
Fear Dolby Digital Live Max (FPS) n/a
3DMark03 2.1 0 Sources 85.5
3DMark03 2.1 24 Sources 77.1
3DMark03 2.1 60 Sources 71.1
3DMark03 DDL 0 Sources n/a
3DMark03 DDL 24 Sources n/a
3DMark03 DDL 60 Sources n/a
Best scores are bolded. Our killer rig consisted of an Athlon 64 FX-60, 2GB of DDR400, 400GB 7,200rpm, and a GeForce 7950 GX2 running Windows XP Professional.
COMMENTS
avatarCreative Labs bad boy

I recently went to frys to pick up Creative Labs X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatal1ty Pro sound card. As soon as I got home I poped opened my Antec 900 side panel case and installed Creative Labs Bad boy, and started up my comp. I installed the necessary drivers, booted up cs 1.6 and started playing. Besides the huge diffrence in sound I also noticed a huge performance gain while playing cs 1.6. Everything was so much faster and smoother.
I recommend this product to everyone.

Login or register to post comments
avatarGreat Card, but...

X-Fi isn't supported under linux yet, but a proprietary blob driver is expected at the end of the year.

Login or register to post comments
RESOURCE CENTER

THIS MONTH's ISSUE
FEATURE 35 Amazing Things Your PC Can DoHOW TO Play Games on Your Linux Machine SOLID STATE DRIVES We Break Down the Tech and Review 7 SSDsBIO TWEAKS Get the Best Performance From Your Rig

Don't have an account? Register Now! Forgot password?