» Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card (70SB073A00000)

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card (70SB073A00000) Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: great for games and ASIO support is good too
Comment: I needed a gaming card and one with ASIO support for home based recording. All my music hardware is USB based and I've got 7ms or less of latency with all of them. This includes an Axiom 61 midi controller keyboard, Guitar Rig 3 software edition without their Rig Control unit, and Line 6 Toneport UX2. So far I'm totally satisfied and don't expect to have to buy a 'pro quality' soundcard which is BIG bucks. All my games sound great. Highly recommended for at home musicians and gamers.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: WOW! What Sound!
Comment: For the price, you cannot beat the quality of sound this card produces, even with your standard computer speakers. Installation was a breeze and there is an automatic update service that keeps drivers and programs current.

You cannot go wrong with a Creative product! Even if you don't want to spend the extra money, it is well worth it to upgrade your standard sound card to even the lowest price Creative card!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Wow! What a difference.
Comment: I upgraded from a Sound Blaster Audigy Value. Wow, what a difference in Mass Effect. The sound from this game is now pretty incredible. I did not notice much of a difference with music audio, but if you are a gamer, this is definitely worth the investment.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great card, good software, annoying installation
Comment: The sound from this card blows onboard audio away. I couldn't believe the difference when I first tried it. Music is clearer, video game sounds are crisper, and overall everything just sounds a hundred times better. There's no way to describe it in words; you really just need to listen for yourself. I've also found that my games run about 10 to 20 fps higher now that I'm not using onboard audio.

I've watched a few DVDs with the included PowerDVD program, and they sound just as good as games. The same thing happens with music, it's just better!

This card features an Intel HD Audio front panel connector (not compatible with the AC'97 audio connector) which is nice. It seems like very few cards offer it.

On the downside, installing the drivers and software is like pulling teeth. The software installation alone took longer on my computer than installing Supreme Commander (an 8 gig game), and required 3 reboots. Plus there's a driver updating utility that needs to be dealt with, and the ever-present "Register Me" notice.

The Creative software itself is a little bit unnecessary and the interface can be confusing. Instead of having all audio options built into one single program, Creative broke it up into many programs. To change options for Game Mode is one program, to change options for Entertainment Mode is another, to change general options is yet another program. The programs link to each other, but its still annoying.

Overall, I highly recommend this card. Games, movies, and music all sound fantastic on it.

(Side note: when installing the software, choose "Minimum Installation". The full install includes tons of stuff that you don't need.)

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Works great with vista
Comment: Excellent sound, way better than my onboard sound card which i was using before. Works great with vista, just make sure you use the drivers online.

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