WOO HOO!
Written: Feb 17 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: LIVE! chip upgrade, excellent sound, digital out, 4 channel out
Cons: None, Creative makes the best cards.
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| Guildencrantz's Full Review: Creative Technology Sound Blaster® Live! Plat... |
I was using an old factory installed card that came with my Packard Bell (the fact that it was factory installed should say that it sucked, the fact that it was from Packard Bell should tell you that REALLY sucked). Since I'm in the process of building a new Athlon system I decided to research the heck out of sound cards.
Well I read the magazine reviews and peoples opinions and I finally decided that I was going to have to get the X-Gamer. I had not wanted to get a Creative Labs sound card because I figured they would be too expensive, but I was wrong. Not only is the X-Gamer one of the best sound cards I got it for a VERY good price.
The X-Gamer is in Creative Labs LIVE! series. The LIVE! Platinum is arguably the best sound card on the market, and you should get it if you can afford it. If you don't have the money then the X-Gamer is a great choice. It is the second in the LIVE! line and is quite a bit cheaper. It still shells out the great sound too. Carrying support for four channel speakers and even digital audio out this card rocks. You can get superb sound from the card to speakers and just have fun with the system. The X-Gamer also supports midi and has a mic in (it comes with a mic) so you can play with recording your own stuff.
The coolest feature, though, is the LIVE! abilities. LIVE! is the chip system that the sound card runs on. Unlike most chips which are hard (everything is physically wired) the LIVE! chip is partially soft (uses software in a bios type manner). This allows for you to download upgrades for the chip. The Creative Labs site keeps upgrades for the LIVE! chip and you can just download them; this upgrade is on the site right next to the driver upgrades.
Installing this chip is also very easy. Like most PCI cards you just have to pop it into an empty slot and restart your computer. With the included driver CD the setup is a piece of cake. The drivers are installed and the software is all checkbox selection. It does take a little while for this setup to take place though. A lot of changes need to be made in your system and the card checks for LIVE! updates online.
After installing the basics you should really check out the other software that comes with the card. Amazingly enough the X-Gamer comes with Thief: The Dark Project, Decent 3, and Need for Speed: High Stakes, in addition to all the applications that you get.
With the amazing sound quality, the four channels of speaker out, and the blazing stability and speed this is a wonderful card. I upgraded from my trashy card and haven't had a problem since. My computer used to seize when ICQ alerts came in or when internet pages had sound. This really ticked me off, but now everything works perfectly. I have not had any sound cause a seizure since I installed the X-Gamer.
With my 4-point Cambridge SoundWorks speakers I have never had a better experience. In games with full surround sound, like Thief and Unreal Tournament, you get a whole new experience. All the subtleties that are programmed into games suddenly jump out and reach your ears like they couldn't before. This is definitely a gamers dream. Games that were designed for use with Creative Labs boards even have "quick settings" selection so that you can get optimal performance from the game and the card. You couln't ask for more. Even CDs sound great on my computer now.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Guildencrantz
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: Boulder, CO
Reviews written: 405
Trusted by: 160 members
About Me:
My coffee cup has Smurf escape instructions in it.
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