Creative Technology Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1
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- Output Mode: 3D Sound
- Card Interface: PCI
- Bit Depth: 16-bit
- Form Factor: Plug-In Card
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Prepare to hear that UNATCO agent in dues ex coming at you
Pros
Clean sound, gotta love the EAX, plenty of connections
Cons
Havent found on yet
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Buy it, email me about installation, and diable the emulation. Then rock on
Wow did I get lucky here. Crusing Best Buy one day, not really looking for a sound card (I was using my mobo one, its integrated, but it can be turned off) when I walk by the sound card stand, and look at that!! A Xgamer live 5.1 from creative for 79 bucks!! No sooner do I pay for it than im out the door and headed home.
I have heard some great things about this card, and they were all right.
First of all, the EAX is unreal. I mean, when you get kills in Counterstrike because you can tell which way the enemy is coming from in your speakers, thats really something. All you need is a set of good computer speakers that feature dual plugs (for front and rear, each plug has two channels (left and right). You can also plug in a 5.1 system (two fronts, two rears, one center, one sub) but I havent invested in that kind of money for computer speaks yet.
The second, and most welcome suprise was the bundle that comes with it. It includes the full versions (no shareware here) of dues ex, unreal tournament, thief 2, and MDK. Wow, thats like 200 dollars worth of software, all for 80 bucks with the card.
The only thing you need to watch is the installation. Several things need to be excluded, otherwise this card has problems. ALSO YOU NEED TO DISABLE EMULATION IN THE HARDWARE PROFILE. I had a friend who didnt disable this, and we all had the impression that his computer was a POS untill I did the reinstall and another friend told me to disable it. You do that, and its really slick
Anyway, get to Best Buy and pick this puppy up, that way you wont have that UNATCO agent all over you with no warning.
(Remember to enable the EAX in all of your games, under the sound config menu)
UPDATE:
I was told to add some more detail about the card itself. I thought the software really was the most important part, but here goes.
The card has 4 sound out jacks, one mic, and one joystick port. It runs in a AGP slot. The sound itself is quite nice, with little/no static, and good reproduction of sound when hooked to a good set of speakers. The surround sound programming works really well, and you can acutally tell when it is on/not on. Many cards simply simulate surround, but with the EAX it is really there. The card is fairly small, as to fit nicely into smaller computers, and it runs very cool, so no need for additonal fans. Thats about all i can think of saying about the acutal card, other than buy it!
I have heard some great things about this card, and they were all right.
First of all, the EAX is unreal. I mean, when you get kills in Counterstrike because you can tell which way the enemy is coming from in your speakers, thats really something. All you need is a set of good computer speakers that feature dual plugs (for front and rear, each plug has two channels (left and right). You can also plug in a 5.1 system (two fronts, two rears, one center, one sub) but I havent invested in that kind of money for computer speaks yet.
The second, and most welcome suprise was the bundle that comes with it. It includes the full versions (no shareware here) of dues ex, unreal tournament, thief 2, and MDK. Wow, thats like 200 dollars worth of software, all for 80 bucks with the card.
The only thing you need to watch is the installation. Several things need to be excluded, otherwise this card has problems. ALSO YOU NEED TO DISABLE EMULATION IN THE HARDWARE PROFILE. I had a friend who didnt disable this, and we all had the impression that his computer was a POS untill I did the reinstall and another friend told me to disable it. You do that, and its really slick
Anyway, get to Best Buy and pick this puppy up, that way you wont have that UNATCO agent all over you with no warning.
(Remember to enable the EAX in all of your games, under the sound config menu)
UPDATE:
I was told to add some more detail about the card itself. I thought the software really was the most important part, but here goes.
The card has 4 sound out jacks, one mic, and one joystick port. It runs in a AGP slot. The sound itself is quite nice, with little/no static, and good reproduction of sound when hooked to a good set of speakers. The surround sound programming works really well, and you can acutally tell when it is on/not on. Many cards simply simulate surround, but with the EAX it is really there. The card is fairly small, as to fit nicely into smaller computers, and it runs very cool, so no need for additonal fans. Thats about all i can think of saying about the acutal card, other than buy it!
