Gaming and Sound Card

JLV2k5 · 01-10-2008, 02:35 AM

Someone said this to me today

"the xfi sound cards actually offload the some of the work from the CPU and tests show an increase of up to 10% in framerates so if you want top of the line gaming machine, go with a nice soundcard."

Is this true, do XFI soundcards (whatever they are), increase frame rates for gaming? Please fill me in. Thanks.

kevlee89 · 01-10-2008, 07:22 AM

I've heard this also..

from what I understand (may not necessarily be true, so going to need some validation..)

there are certain differences among the X-Fi cards. For instance, in the Creative line, I've heard the difference between the X-Fi Audio and Gamer lines is that the Audio line uses your CPU, whereas the Gamer line doesn't. On top of it, the fatal1ty version uses its own memory. Which of course can increase frame rates.

That's at least what I remember reading..you might be better off reading some articles on tomshardware

ComputerGuru64x2 · 01-10-2008, 12:06 PM

I heard this too. From what I hear, the CPU uses usuage for your integrated audio, so it is less framerates, but nothing noticeably from and average user.

JLV2k5 · 01-10-2008, 05:36 PM

Well if it increases the gaming experience in any way, then I'm in. Especially because sound cards are not that expensive. You can get a good one for around $100, and a decent one for way less than that. I need a convicting opinion on the sound card question before I can decide though.

Can anyone else answer my question?

StrangleHold · 01-10-2008, 07:31 PM

Yea from the X Fi Gamer (not the X Fi Audio) and up do there own processing. The lower end card and onboard use CPU time but I would say 10% is alittle stretching it.

JLV2k5 · 01-10-2008, 08:01 PM

Well if it helps it helps. Even if it only increases frame rate by as little as 5%, i think its worth getting a sound card. I'll look into the X-Fi gamer sound cards and compare prices.

bumblebee_tuna · 01-10-2008, 08:21 PM

Both statements are true for the same reason: they have an onboard processing unit. While most of the X-Fi cards offload work from the CPU, the bottom of the line cards, such as Xtremeaudio/music, lack an onboard processor and require the CPU to process sound. It's not to say that the Xtremeaudio won't increase your framerates as it might better utilize the CPU over onboard sound in some cases. But, my recommendation is to at least spend the extra money and buy at least the Xtremegamer which is the first card to have processor along the X-Fi line.

JLV2k5 · 01-10-2008, 08:51 PM

Can someone send me some links to these gaming sound cards. I cannot seem to find any for gaming on Newegg. Thanks

[-0MEGA-] · 01-10-2008, 09:24 PM

They don't increase your framerates in real world gaming, I ran a test using onboard vs the X-Fi I have now and it didn't improve the average framerates. Then again most people buy sound cards for higher quality sound, not for higher framerates. You would probably have better luck trying to increase your FPS by installing a Killer NIC, haha

JLV2k5 · 01-10-2008, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [-0MEGA-]

They don't increase your framerates in real world gaming, I ran a test using onboard vs the X-Fi I have now and it didn't improve the average framerates. Then again most people buy sound cards for higher quality sound, not for higher framerates. You would probably have better luck trying to increase your FPS by installing a Killer NIC, haha

NIC, Network Interface Card? Is that what you're talking about? If not, what?

So if these X-Fi sound cards don't directly increase your frame rates, they probably increase gaming performance by relieving sound responsibly away from the processor, thus speeding up everything else the chip does.

01-10-2008, 02:35 AM	#1 (permalink)
JLV2k5 Diamond Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: University of Delaware Age: 21 Posts: 1,301	Gaming and Sound Card Someone said this to me today "the xfi sound cards actually offload the some of the work from the CPU and tests show an increase of up to 10% in framerates so if you want top of the line gaming machine, go with a nice soundcard." Is this true, do XFI soundcards (whatever they are), increase frame rates for gaming? Please fill me in. Thanks. __________________ Can't wait to finish college and build my system.

01-10-2008, 12:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
ComputerGuru64x2 Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: North Carolina Posts: 431	I heard this too. From what I hear, the CPU uses usuage for your integrated audio, so it is less framerates, but nothing noticeably from and average user. __________________ Gaming System/Media Center CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Windsor @ 2.2Ghz Socket AM2 MB: Abit AN-M2HD nVidia GeForce 7050PV nForce 630a HDMI mATX RAM: 2Gb(2 X 1Gb) OCZ Platinum Revivsion 2 PC2 6400 @ DDR2 880 (3-4-4-15) HDD: Western Digital Caviar 80Gb 7200RPM IDE GPU: MSI GeForce 8600GT 256Mb DDR3 128bit OD: LG DVD-RAM Black Sata Case: nMEDIAPC HTPC 200BA Black Speakers: Logitech X-240 2.1

01-10-2008, 05:36 PM	#4 (permalink)
JLV2k5 Diamond Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: University of Delaware Age: 21 Posts: 1,301	Well if it increases the gaming experience in any way, then I'm in. Especially because sound cards are not that expensive. You can get a good one for around $100, and a decent one for way less than that. I need a convicting opinion on the sound card question before I can decide though. Can anyone else answer my question? __________________ Can't wait to finish college and build my system.

01-10-2008, 07:31 PM	#5 (permalink)
StrangleHold Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: In a realm of unknown Wonders Posts: 7,513	Yea from the X Fi Gamer (not the X Fi Audio) and up do there own processing. The lower end card and onboard use CPU time but I would say 10% is alittle stretching it. __________________ NZXT Apollo Athlon 64 X2 5600-3.3ghz. Gigabyte GA MA770 DS3 G Skill DDR2 1066-944mhz. 4gbs. PNY 8800GT/VD964 Cooler W/D Sata 3.0 500gb RE2 Humans are curious creatures and by nature insane. Lock us all in a room together and within hours we're dividing into groups, creating Gods and plotting on how to kill one another.

01-10-2008, 08:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
JLV2k5 Diamond Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: University of Delaware Age: 21 Posts: 1,301	Well if it helps it helps. Even if it only increases frame rate by as little as 5%, i think its worth getting a sound card. I'll look into the X-Fi gamer sound cards and compare prices. __________________ Can't wait to finish college and build my system.

01-10-2008, 07:22 AM	#2 (permalink)
kevlee89 Silver Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 152	I've heard this also.. from what I understand (may not necessarily be true, so going to need some validation..) there are certain differences among the X-Fi cards. For instance, in the Creative line, I've heard the difference between the X-Fi Audio and Gamer lines is that the Audio line uses your CPU, whereas the Gamer line doesn't. On top of it, the fatal1ty version uses its own memory. Which of course can increase frame rates. That's at least what I remember reading..you might be better off reading some articles on tomshardware

01-10-2008, 08:21 PM	#7 (permalink)
bumblebee_tuna Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Age: 19 Posts: 1,326	Both statements are true for the same reason: they have an onboard processing unit. While most of the X-Fi cards offload work from the CPU, the bottom of the line cards, such as Xtremeaudio/music, lack an onboard processor and require the CPU to process sound. It's not to say that the Xtremeaudio won't increase your framerates as it might better utilize the CPU over onboard sound in some cases. But, my recommendation is to at least spend the extra money and buy at least the Xtremegamer which is the first card to have processor along the X-Fi line. __________________ Dell Inspiron 1520 Jet Black Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz / 2GB DDR2 667MHz / 160GB 7200RPM nVidia GeForce 8600m GT 256MB 15.4" WXGA Anti-glare Display (1280x800) Microsoft Windows Vista Premium w/ Media Direct boot hack into Ubuntu Gutsy Haikus are easy. But sometimes they don't make sense. Refrigerator.

01-10-2008, 08:51 PM	#8 (permalink)
JLV2k5 Diamond Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: University of Delaware Age: 21 Posts: 1,301	Can someone send me some links to these gaming sound cards. I cannot seem to find any for gaming on Newegg. Thanks __________________ Can't wait to finish college and build my system.

01-10-2008, 09:24 PM	#9 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 20 Posts: 27,082	They don't increase your framerates in real world gaming, I ran a test using onboard vs the X-Fi I have now and it didn't improve the average framerates. Then again most people buy sound cards for higher quality sound, not for higher framerates. You would probably have better luck trying to increase your FPS by installing a Killer NIC, haha __________________ Desktop // Laptop Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.0GHz // Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz Asus Rampage Formula X48 // Intel PM45 ATI 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 // 512MB GDDR3 9800M GTS 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 940 // 4GB DDR3 800 750GB SATAII w/32MB // 200GB SATAII 7200RPM Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 21391 // 9179

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