My first build, gaming pc after the price cuts -- Opinions?

[sswilson]

Looks like it's going to be a kickass system!!!!

The only small issue I can see left is how important sound is to your gaming experience, and what OS you plan to use.

Hopefully somebody with more knowledge of sound cards (especially the X-Fi line) will step in, but I remember looking into the card you've got listed and there was something about gaming that it didn't play nice with.

The reason I ask about OS is that if it's EAX that the card doesn't do well, AFAIK that's pretty well crippled in Vista anywise so it might not be an issue if you're going to run Vista.

Probably worth looking into, IIRC the Creative site actually states that gamers should consider cards other than the Xtream Audio.

[Supergrover]

Originally Posted by sswilson

Looks like it's going to be a kickass system!!!!

The only small issue I can see left is how important sound is to your gaming experience, and what OS you plan to use.

Hopefully somebody with more knowledge of sound cards (especially the X-Fi line) will step in, but I remember looking into the card you've got listed and there was something about gaming that it didn't play nice with.

The reason I ask about OS is that if it's EAX that the card doesn't do well, AFAIK that's pretty well crippled in Vista anywise so it might not be an issue if you're going to run Vista.

Probably worth looking into, IIRC the Creative site actually states that gamers should consider cards other than the Xtream Audio.

Yup missed that. That sound card lacks bad IMO.
I bought one a couple of months ago to replace my aging audagy mp3, and well the x-fi sounded worse. All the X-FI effects are done in software not hardware, thats not a X-FI chip but rather a re-branded SB live, if I remember right.

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by Supergrover

Yup missed that. That sound card lacks bad IMO.
I bought one a couple of months ago to replace my aging audagy mp3, and well the x-fi sounded worse. All the X-FI effects are done in software not hardware, thats not a X-FI chip but rather a re-branded SB live, if I remember right.

If that's the case, and money is a consideration, the better choice would probably be to stick with on-board (ugggg, but it is getting better.... :) ) or maybe finding an Audigy2 card if he/she's stuck on Creative and doesn't want to spend the cash for a full fledged X-Fi.

[Babrbarossa]

Originally Posted by Supergrover

Yup missed that. That sound card lacks bad IMO.
I bought one a couple of months ago to replace my aging audagy mp3, and well the x-fi sounded worse. All the X-FI effects are done in software not hardware, thats not a X-FI chip but rather a re-branded SB live, if I remember right.

I was wondering how that card worked out for you- at least it was cheap, eh?

[Supergrover]

How about This for $77 after rebate, or This for $75, just because Creative is not high on my lists lately

[Supergrover]

Originally Posted by Babrbarossa

I was wondering how that card worked out for you- at least it was cheap, eh?

I think it was $35 (?) @ the time, not even worth that IMO

[sswilson]

As you can see there is a bit of a drop in performance with the Striker 7.1 over the Audigy 2 Platinum. This is primarily due to the fact that the Striker 7.1 uses the CPU to process its audio similar to onboard sound solutions; the Audigy 2 on the other hand has its own processor that handles most of the audio processing. Also take note that the Audigy 2 Platinum is a rather high-end sound card while the Striker 7.1 is more of a mainstream sound card.

I'd be a bit leery of the Striker as it does much of its work through software and that's an issue with Vista's DRM.

It looks like an awesome card for I/O, but I'd do a lot of research on software based Audio cards before picking one up.

My understanding is that anything software which might be user-modified to circumvent (sp?) DRM will be severly crippled under Vista.

[Whatshisface]

Originally Posted by Supergrover

Remember NCIX price matches

But.....
There still is shipping charges

[Whatshisface]

Also, I want to go with Vista

[Whatshisface]

Should I go for Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Gamer 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 PCI Retail Box Bilingual -$118.74
or
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE PCI 7.1 Surround Sound Card (OEM) -$34.83