The annoyingly named Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Champion Series
Creative unveils latest X-Fi PCI Express sound card
Bennett Ring26 May 2008, 11:00 AM
Look out Vista -- Creative's got a new sound card headed your way, hopefully with decent Vista drivers this time.
Just a week ago we reported on Creative’s dismal result in the Valve Hardware survey, where a meagre 6% of gamers fessed up to owning a Creative sound card. Compared to only five years ago, when Creative cards were the weapon of choice for serious gamers, and we’re starting to wonder if those Creative shares we bought back in ’97 were such a good idea.
However, Creative’s soundcard show isn’t over until the fat lady sings (in 5.1 surround sound, with EAX effects no less.) This week the company launched its latest version of the X-Fi series. Unlike the grossly overpriced debut X-Fi, the new X-Fi is actually affordable by people who don’t work on a West Australian mine, and it’s also finally utilising the PCI Express interconnect.
Initially available in two types, both are equally annoyingly named. There’s the PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro Series for those on a tighter budget, and then there’s the PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series. As far as we can tell, both cards appear to be identical, but the Champion ships with a front drive bay mounted I/O rack, as seen in the original X-Fi Fatal1ty.
Strangely, both cards still use Creative’s wonderful XRAM. This is the same onboard memory that was included on only the most expensive PCI X-Fi cards. From our experience with this technology in the past, XRAM was good for two things; filling up space on marketing material and increasing the price tag.
While we’ve yet to get our hands on the new X-Fi cards, we have to admit to being a little more cautious about the new X-Fi cards than the gushing excitement we had when the firs t X-Fi launched. The reason is simple – Vista. Based on our experience, Creative had, and still has, some of the worst driver support for Vista. Which is probably why the phrase “Windows Vista compatibility: Certified UAA compliant for maximum Windows Vista compatibility” has been liberally sprinkled throughout all Creative literature discussing the new cards. We’ll let you know whether or not these words ring true in the very near future, when we take an in-depth look at these new soundcards.