Gigabyte Offers Free 30-Day X-Fi Audio Trial for X58/P45/P43 Series Motherboards

[btarunr]

GIGABYTE Technology CO., LTD., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today is pleased to announce GIGABYTE X58/P45/P43/P41 series motherboards now support Creative's latest Sound Blaster X-Fi technologies, delivering a premium audio quality and listening experience for your PC.

X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity is the new audio standard from Creative that makes your music and movies way better. It breathes life into songs, restores detail, and expands the music to surround sound. For music lovers or gamers, X-Fi technology delivers superior 3D audio solutions. At the heart of X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity lie three key technologies; X-Fi CMSS-3D Virtual, X-Fi Crystalizer and EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0.



X-Fi CMSS-3D Virtual technology expands your stereo MP3s and digital movies into surround sound over multi-channel speakers, stereo speakers or even headphones. X-Fi CMSS-3D Virtual expands the sound stage of any setup so you literally feel surrounded by multi-channel speakers, allowing you to enjoy an incredibly natural surround sound experience.

X-Fi Crystalizer technology restores the detail and vibrancy to your compressed music and movies by digitally re-mastering all the highs and lows, while leaving the mid range (vocals) untouched. X-Fi Crystalizer technology delivers richer, more dynamic elements to you music, and ensures you'll hear everything in crystal clear clarity.

EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0, with its state-of-the-art Multi-Environment rendering and reverb modeling, delivers a much more realistic and immersive 3D gaming experience than is possible with standard motherboard audio.

GIGABYTE's entire X58/P45/P43/P41 motherboard lineup as well as other motherboard series featuring the ALC889A or ALC888 audio codecs now offer support for Sound Blaster X-Fi Technology, providing way better audio effects for your PC entertainment experience.

For more about X-Fi on GIGABYTE motherboards and free 30-day trial download, please visit this page. A list of compatible products is as follows:



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[REVHEAD]

Umm wtf lol

 

[francis511]

Could be quite good if your mb qualifies.

 

[btarunr]

In short, it's the X-Fi Motherboard Audio driver that replaces the HD Audio driver. It provides EAX 4.0, Crystalizer and CMSS-3D. It only goes on to show that just about every Creative audio technology can be CPU-accelerated and that those "50 million transistor, 10,000 MIPS" audio processors are pieces of crap (worthless in today's scenarios with powerful CPUs).

To use the X-Fi MB driver you have to buy it ($20~30). Gigabyte is offering a 30-day trial. Which you can get it anyway. Any Intel Azalia-compliant HD audio CODEC can be driven by X-Fi MB.

 

[OnBoard]

Doesn't work =)

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=82824

Well didn't at least month ago, won't be trying it again. Free or max 5$ then yes it would be cool.

 

[Esse]

Can't wait for someone to hack this to pieces for everyone to use.

Why the hell is it Intel boards only?

 

[csendesmark]

Is this a software-EAX driver for $$$?

 

[OnBoard]

Is this a software-EAX driver for $$$?

Yep, software Audigy 2/4 with some x-fi effects.

 

[francis511]

When you say any intel codec, does the driver have to be modded first ?

 

[btarunr]

When you say any intel codec, does the driver have to be modded first ?

No modding. You just uninstall your onboard audio's driver and install this.

 

[francis511]

Damn !!! Where is it ?!! Must dl ..

 

[OnBoard]

Can't wait for someone to hack this to pieces for everyone to use.

Why the hell is it Intel boards only?

When you say any intel codec, does the driver have to be modded first ?

Shouldn't matter what motherboard, as long as it has correct sound chip.

Just go to some of the mentioned motherboads driver page and download the software. It's just "Realtek Semiconductor Corp. High Definition Audio System Software Ver:R2.04" with x-fi stuff added.

 

[Esse]

Shouldn't matter what motherboard, as long as it has correct sound chip.

Just go to some of the mentioned motherboads driver page and download the software. It's just "Realtek Semiconductor Corp. High Definition Audio System Software Ver:R2.04" with x-fi stuff added.

I did. As per specs I have the ALC889A and it just throws an error saying I don't have supported hardware.

Edit: The exact same error you got actually.
Edit2: Windows 7 might be the culprit so I'll try on XP tomorrow unless someone gets it working first.

 

[OnBoard]

I did. As per specs I have the ALC889A and it just throws an error saying I don't have supported hardware.

Edit: The exact same error you got actually.
Edit2: Windows 7 might be the culprit so I'll try on XP tomorrow unless someone gets it working first.

Oh, good I wasn't the only one then I'm interested too if someone actually gets it working, not much use now when you can't open audio console at all. Of course you could just use the rest of the software for 30 days, but I'm sure there are better ones for free.

 

[ShadowFold]

So these Gigabyte boards have Realtek or Creative built in?

 

[silkstone]

realtek

 

[ShadowFold]

realtek

So someone could mod these to work on every realtek chip??

 

[btarunr]

So someone could mod these to work on every realtek chip??

Yes, every Realtek, VIA, Sigmatel/IDT, ADI made Azalia-compliant chip, albeit the driver is locked by license keys and activation. Only registered users can use it forever.

 

[iStink]

this reminds me of how ageia physx can be offered via software in nvidia drivers now. They made these pci cards, talking about how it's an extreme physics processor, when all along it was just code that video cards could handle.

I wonder if someday we'll all just end up going to a system where it's a single processor that handles everything.

 

[csendesmark]

I wonder if someday we'll all just end up going to a system where it's a single processor that handles everything.

The first coputers was the same (CPU calculated everything)... then they made discrete VGA-Soundcards...ETC...

 

[memberix]

what is this. you have to pay 30 $ for the drivers.
you buy the board and now you have to pay for the drivers too.
somebody's gonna hack those drivers.
creative market politics suck.

 

[ShadowFold]

what is this. you have to pay 30 $ for the drivers.
you buy the board and now you have to pay for the drivers too.
somebody's gonna hack those drivers.
creative market politics suck.

That's what I'm waiting for..

 

[imperialreign]

In short, it's the X-Fi Motherboard Audio driver that replaces the HD Audio driver. It provides EAX 4.0, Crystalizer and CMSS-3D. It only goes on to show that just about every Creative audio technology can be CPU-accelerated and that those "50 million transistor, 10,000 MIPS" audio processors are pieces of crap (worthless in today's scenarios with powerful CPUs).

I wouldn't necessarily go so far as to say they're crap or pointless . . . they do have processing capabilities unmatched by competing chipsets. It's just in terms of CPU utilization they're 99.5% worthless in regards to today's powerful and multi-core CPUs.

Anyhow, I'm surprised to see Creative finally coughing up EAX support (as well as X-Fi "features") and licensing to other manufacturers and hardware markets. I'm guessing the competition from ASUS and Auzentech must finally be hurting their wallet some . . . or that Creative are truly trying to change their ways.

Either way - it's best for the consumer

what is this. you have to pay 30 $ for the drivers.
you buy the board and now you have to pay for the drivers too.
somebody's gonna hack those drivers.
creative market politics suck.

TBH, I don't think Creative have anything to do with the download cost for these hashed onboard audio driver sets - I think this is GIGA's way of covering the licensing cost for products that are already on the market. I'm sure after a few months, for owners of new boards that will be released to market, there will be no charge as the licensing cost will be rolled into the motherboard's price.

 

[tkpenalty]

the hell 32 bit x86 only?

 

[ShadowFold]

the hell 32 bit x86 only?

Creative, lol