X-fi prelude or Soundlaster X-fi?

[Franklinwallbrown]

I have a coolerMaster Cosmos 1000 case where the PSU is on the bottom. I had my Prelude between my 2nd 8800GT and my PSU and it caused all kinds of hangups and restarts. once I moved it above my 8800GT (the only other pci slot) it has been near perfect. they do pick up alot of EMI from the other stuff in the pc case. That seems to be my only prob right now. This is well documented on this forum. Try this thread:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=40613

Hmm...that is a little crazy. (How is the case BTW, you like it?)

picky in as, depending on what other components are close to them. Newer sound cards pick up a lot of EMI from neighboring components - especially from joosed GPUs and 1337 PSUs. It's a double edged sword - the more we improve sound quality capability of any sound card, the more susceptable to EMI it becomes; all the while, the more powerful our power supplies and GPUs (and some CPUs included) become, the more EMI they generate. There are a few means of protecting your sound card, and it's output signal from noise interference, though, but the easiest is just to install it in a slot furthest away from other components.


BTW - the Prelude sounds like it'd be a good setup for you, although I think you could prob make more use of the software bundled with the Elite Pro, and would still be happy with it's sound quality. If you do some searching, you can find the Elite Pro for sale close to the $200-$240 mark, which is close to the price of the Prelude.

Well, there you have it.

Yeah, for joo my fren I'd gho Elite Prho!

 

[jds21]

BTW - the Prelude sounds like it'd be a good setup for you, although I think you could prob make more use of the software bundled with the Elite Pro, and would still be happy with it's sound quality. If you do some searching, you can find the Elite Pro for sale close to the $200-$240 mark, which is close to the price of the Prelude.

LOL... hahaha.... yeah maybe in the US.... not in Australia... the cheapest I have seen the elite pro here is around AU$450 and the prelude is AU$259... big difference....

What software is bundled with the Elite pro which makes it better for me?

I have 2 choices... put the card between my Wireless card and TV Tuner or between by Wireless card and the Power supply.... the power supply is in a separate chamber... which would be better?

 

[imperialreign]

LOL... hahaha.... yeah maybe in the US.... not in Australia... the cheapest I have seen the elite pro here is around AU$450 and the prelude is AU$259... big difference....

What software is bundled with the Elite pro which makes it better for me?

that's a major diff in prices!! Holy crap, man! Screw the Elite Pro and go with the Prelude!



Asides, the Elite Pro is bundled with Creative Entertainment Center; Cubase LE; WaveLab Lite; a trial version of Amplitude LE; the full Creative Software Suite; and a couple of other programs (can't find the friggin list I saw late last week ).

Still, though, at those price differences . . .

 

[jds21]

lol yeah i know... i nearly fell off my chair when i saw the price of the elite pro....

where would be the better place to put the sound card ^^ see above... I only have 2 PCI slots right next to each other so i don't have much choice as where to put it

 

[imperialreign]

well, seeing as how you only have one VGA adapter, I have to aassume, then, that you installed that into the blue PCIE slot on your mobo, right?

If that's the case, I'd recommend putting the audio card in the bottom most PCI slot; but with only one GPU, and the two PCIE 1x slots between the x16 slots - either PCI slot would actually be alright.


<edit>:
damn - I didn't catch your edit earlier:

is your PSU at the bottom of the case?

TV tuner; PCI or PCIE 1x or PCIE 16x?

wireless; PCI or PCIE 1x?

 

[jds21]

Yes you assumed correctly.... ok good then... i was concerned about the wireless card most of all

here is how the whole lot is set up

Blue PCIe x16 - 8800GT
PCIe x1 - spare
PCIe x1 - TV Tuner
Orange PCIe x4 - spare
PCI... wireless/sound
PCI...wireless/sound
PSU in lower chamber (P182 case)

 

[imperialreign]

if your PSU is quarantied from the rest of the case, the card should be alright between your wireless PCI and the PSU. If you feel up to it, you could always move your wireless card down a notch, but I think you should be alright, TBH.

<edit>:
you don't by chance use a high-powered or "range booster" wireless adapter, do you?

 

[jds21]

TP Link 108G Wireless..... nothing special... i was going to get MIMo but it wasn't worth it

My PSU is the Corsair HX-620 if that is of any importance... the PSU is isolated in the lower chamber... see pic

 

[imperialreign]

either slot then will be more than fine.

Just wanted to make sure you're not using a powerful wireless adapter - as they're just as bad for EMI as high powere GPU's :shadedshu