Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Titanium - Should I?

[TildeMerand]

Hey guys, Matt here.

If anyone has been creeping about, I've been having issues with sound configuration in Windows 7.

After a bit of digging, I've found a fix... Buy a new damn card.

Just want all you forum goers opinions, Is this card all that it is cracked up to be?

Links to Reviews and even first hand experience intel much appreciated

Here is the link I located to see if it was compatable with my Win7 x64-bit system,


Windows 7 Compatibility Center hardware browse results - Graphics Cards & Components - Sound Cards


Matt~

 

[valtonray]

it's a good card but the x-fi drivers have been a source of issues for many lately.

 

[sygnus21]

It's a good card and I have no driver isues! Thank you very much.

My mini review here.... My thoughts on Creative’s X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Vista Forums

I absolutely love the sound quality of this card! Listening some jazz on it right now. Stunning.

 

[valtonray]

i haven't had issues with mine either. but i've notcied from these forums we get a lot of help request for x-fi based cards.

 

[sygnus21]

i haven't had issues with mine either. but i've notcied from these forums we get a lot of help request for x-fi based cards.

Yeah but if you look closely, those are mostly for the older X-Fi cards - the ones Daniel K tried to fix and got threatened by Creative Labs...

Daniel_K, Who Fixed Creative’s Broken Vista Drivers, Speaks Out | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

At any rate, I'd be lying if I said there weren't any driver problems some X-Fi cards, so...

 

[Zahl]

I picked this card up a few days ago and have had no issues with it other than trying to use dd live which causes windows to sit at shutdown screen indefinitely.
It puts out some great sound and BB might still have them for only $99(fatal1ty version)

 

[fireberd]

I have an Xfi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion installed and NO problems.

Considering the number of people that have SoundBlaster's installed, compared to those that are having problems (with current production models - not older models that may or may not be compatible) it's very few.

I had an older SB Audigy 2 Platinum EX die and agonized over buying a new SB and because of problems (back in the Vista days) on the Dell Users Forum with the (Dell OEM model) Xfi's I installed an HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card and it worked perfectly in Vista 64 bit and when I installed Win 7 64 bit they had a new driver that also worked without problems. However I missed the Hardware MIDI Synths that SoundBlaster has and finally went for the SoundBlaster and after two months it's working flawlessly.

 

[LFB]

If I were you... I'll wait a bit more... look.. new boards will come over with full Windows 7 compatbility next month:

CREATIVE ANNOUNCES SOUND BLASTER® X-FI® TITANIUM HD AND USB SOUND BLASTER® X-FI® HD* FEATURING THX TRUSTUDIO PC™ AUDIO TECHNOLOGY

Press Releases

Pricing and Availability
The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD and Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD will be available at The CREATIVE Stores at International Business Park and Marina Square, the online store at sg.store.creative.com and authorised dealers in Singapore from March 2010 onwards at the suggested retail prices of S$299.00 and S$149.00 respectively.

 

[TildeMerand]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone.

I'll read over each review and LFB's Press Release right away.

Matt~

 

[TildeMerand]

LFB, Thank you, you just saved me a few hundred bucks.

I was going to purchase that card TOMORROW. After reading that, I think I'll wait.

Again, Thank you very much. LFB's Rep + + + + +

Matt~

 

[valtonray]

i haven't had issues with mine either. but i've notcied from these forums we get a lot of help request for x-fi based cards.

Yeah but if you look closely, those are mostly for the older X-Fi cards - the ones Daniel K tried to fix and got threatened by Creative Labs...

Daniel_K, Who Fixed Creative’s Broken Vista Drivers, Speaks Out | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

At any rate, I'd be lying if I said there weren't any driver problems some X-Fi cards, so...

admittly i haven't paid much attention to which cards specifically users were having trouble with but i felt that it should be mentioned that x-fi cards have seemed to have a lot of driver issues.

 

[sygnus21]

Fair enough, but for the most part the Titanium cards aren't the problem childs.

I personally think that if Creative wasn't so greedy the whole X-Fi line of cards could be fixed. Instead Creative just releases a new line and calls them "compatible" with Vista and Window 7.

Just my opinion

 

[valtonray]

well thats business. maybe not the best way to practice it but sometimes profit is a higher priority than customer satisfaction.

 

[sygnus21]

We'll agree to that

 

[smarteyeball]

I picked this card up a few days ago and have had no issues with it other than trying to use dd live which causes windows to sit at shutdown screen indefinitely.
It puts out some great sound and BB might still have them for only $99(fatal1ty version)

If you have a process called CTAudSvc.exe running, then that's the culprit of the shutdown hang.

I have an Auzen X-FI Forte which is basically a Creative card and have the same issue. DDL/DTS enabled results in a hang on shutdown/restart.

If you have that service running, try creating a batch file that kills the process:

****************************************************************

There are two workarounds I know of to avoid the hang:

1) Open Task Manager and manually end the CTAudSvc.exe process (CTAudSvc.exe*32 for x64) then shutdown/restart normally via the Start Orb

2) Create a batch file that will automatically kill the CTAudSvc.exe process and then shutdown or restart the PC normally. (This is a tip I picked up from the Creative site with some further instructions included)

TO SHUTDOWN

1. Open Notepad

2. Copy the following text:

TaskKill.exe /F /IM CTAudSvc.exe
ShutDown.exe /S /T 10

3. Save as "ShutDown.bat" - remember the quotes, otherwise it will just save is as a .txt

TO RESTART, do the same as above except enter

TaskKill.exe /F /IM CTAudSvc.exe
ShutDown.exe /R /T 10

and save it as "Restart.Bat"

One important thing:

These .bat files require elevated privileges, so right-click on the .bat file and select "Run as Administrator" (click Yes if UAC is enabled) otherwise the CTAudSvc.exe will not be terminated and the PC will still hang.

 

[Zahl]

Thanks a lot that did the trick!

 

[smarteyeball]

No worries mate, I'm glad it worked

Fingers crossed Creative can add something as simple as terminating a process in their next driver release

 

[barcomi]

Hi All,

I have X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion, running Windows 7 64 bit. I have had the card for almost 3 years and I have never ever had any problems. The question I have is, is anyone running the card with 7.1 speakers?

I have Creative S750 7.1 speakers, and when doing a speaker test everything is fine, I can hear all speakers. Also, when I play music, I can play it in all 7 speakers.

The problem is, I cannot play 7.1 movies on all 7 speakers. If I play 5.1 everything is fine, but If I switch to 7.1 (both in creative console and in Power DVD), I can only hear the front and the middle speakers. The sound that is meant to be played on rear speakers moves to the middle ones, and absolutely nothing comes out in the rear ones. I had older model Creative sound card, which I was running in XP, and was then able to watch moves in 7.1 mode. Must be something with the decoding/drivers, as when I play music all speakers work ?

Please help