Greetings and welcome to an LGR Windows XP thing!
And this is the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series sound card,
retailing at $179.99 in 2007.
Yeah if you saw my Windows XP “Dream PC” build video, I initially installed a Sound
Blaster Audigy Platinum in there since I wanted a dedicated sound card with EAX and hardware
acceleration and that's what I had on hand.
And while that’s a lovely card in its own right, its front panel I/O drive was beige,
which didn’t match the rest of the PC’s jet-black, 2007 gaming rig aesthetic.
I actually had an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum myself in ‘07, with a black front panel that’d
go great with my XP build, but that exact unit has long since left my collection.
Honestly I just kinda moved onto integrated sound chips once they got quote “good enough,”
so I sold that Audigy 2 in like 2009.
But that brings us to today and the recent XP PC build.
And if you listen closely, you can hear it calling out for EAX HD1 functionality.
[PC whispers “Environmental Audio Extensions.”]
So let’s do it desires and get it unboxed, installed, and see what it can do with a handful
of mid-2000s PC gaming classics.
Speaking of a classic, remember Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel?
I mean, it’s not like he’s not still around, the brand is still going strong it seems.
But for a while there his name was unavoidable, being plastered on seemingly everything, from
sound cards to headsets to computer cases.
Even the SLI graphics card setup I have in my XP build is Fatal1ty-branded, his stuff
was just everywhere.
This particular X-Fi Platinum happens to be branded by him as well, though that’s not
why I grabbed it.
The main reason was the fact that it comes with an I/O drive that looks pretty much just
like the one from my old Audigy 2 ZS, but the sound card itself is a pretty decent step
up in terms of technical capabilities while still being appropriate for a 2007 XP build.
Not only does it provide 24-bit audio playback at up to 192kHz, but it’s equipped with
all of Creative’s contemporary bells and whistles, like EAX version 5.0 and backwards
compatibility with previous standards.
It also packs a mighty capable on-board audio processor and 64 megabytes of what Creative
marketing dubbed “X-RAM.”
As with any hardware accelerated sound card like this, the goal was to achieve the highest
fidelity audio playback with increased performance, freeing up CPU and system memory resources.
It also has what appears to be a gameport, but it’s actually a proprietary “ad link”
port for connecting external control modules.
The next three ports to the left are 3.5mm audio outputs for outputting to stereo speakers,
headphones, or 7.1 channel surround sound systems.
And the one on the far left is a combination SPDIF, line-in, and mic jack.
Then there’s the front I/O box, which fits into a 5.25” drive bay and connects to the
X-Fi using this flat ribbon cable, interfacing internally by plugging into the back of the card.
The main reason I wanted one of these back in the day is because I was pretty big into
digital audio workstations and music production and wanted as many ports as I could get for
that, but nowadays it’s mostly because I dig how it looks.
The more ports the merrier in my book, and starting on the right-hand side you have the
infrared receiver, two miniature MIDI in and out ports, RCA auxiliary input, line or mic
input with a sweet amplification knob, headphone output with volume control, SPDIF optical
I/O, as well as coaxial SPDIF on the far left.
So yeah, there are a crapload of things to hook in, look at, and generally fiddle around
with on this setup and I friggin love that.
Also in the box is this remote control, which was yet another selling point for me on this
particular X-Fi bundle.
And I especially enjoy that this one has these four little scroll wheels.
And finally there’s this goodie bag, packing Windows XP and Vista software bundles on their
own CDs, a Creative Xtreme Fidelity demo DVD that’s never been opened so we’ll have
to fix that, a few cables for connecting CD-ROM audio and converting the front panel MIDI
ports to full-sized ones, this decal for sticking sound card color codes to the card itself,
a fold-out ad for Battlefield 2142 in a surprising multitude of languages, and a Quick Start
leaflet that opens up into a cumbersome poster-like contraption.
At least it has some nifty full-color illustrations, I’ve always enjoyed these kinds of hardware
infographics where you’re given examples of what each connection can do.
Before we get everything installed though: yes, for those of you that have asked, I went
ahead and dropped in another DDR2 RAM stick to get the max of four gigabytes on this machine.
Well, max for what 32-bit Windows can address by default anyway.
And no I won’t be installing 64-bit on here, at least not as the main installation, since
it causes a range of issues with certain older games.
So yeah, four gigs is plenty and this video is about the X-Fi Platinum dang it, so let’s
go ahead and get the old Audigy card removed.
[shunk]
Sigh! Still a cool little card that I have future plans for,
but that’ll be another video, time permitting.
Anyway, getting the X-Fi installed is just a matter of dropping it into the same PCI
slot and screwing it into place.
It doesn’t have an HD audio header so I still won’t be able to plug in my case’s
audio ports on top, but seeing as we’ve got this beefy 5.25” interface to install
I’m not too bothered by that fact.
What does bother me a little is the necessity for this chunky old ribbon cable to connect
the two, considering I went out of my way to improve airflow inside the case, but eh,
it is what is I guess.
All right, time to get that Creative Sound Blaster software package installed and try
out that DVD demo disc, I’m quite curious about that thing!
Driver and software installation works as you’d anticipate, while also offering to
install more than you’ll likely need.
Take a look at all this potential bloatware, good grief!
Whatever, gonna go ahead and install everything because that’s why I’m here.
[Windows XP shutdown sound] Ooh, got sound!
And we also have remote control support.
Being infrared it does require a pretty direct line of sight to the front panel receiver.
But as a fan of remote-controlled anything when it comes to computers, I’ll take what I can get.
And at this point we can start dialing in the basic speaker settings.
[“Left channel.”] [“Right channel.”]
If you go with the default settings the Windows volume controls are replaced with this Creative
sound panel application, providing access to levels adjustments, sound profiles, and
features specific to Creative X-Fi cards.
One they advertised quite a bit is the Crystalizer, which can quote, “restore portions of the
sound which were lost during compression."
[“Quarter Mix” plays, Crystalizer doing its thing]
It actually does a decent job of
both restoring a bit of dynamic range as well as making lower bitrate audio sound cleaner.
Another of the defining features on offer is CMSS-3D, which produces virtual 3D sound
from 2-channel stereo speakers, like this!
[CMSS-3D helicopter demo plays, spinning "around" your head]
This doesn’t exactly make that helicopter sound like it’s
legit rotating around you, but much like the older Aureal Vortex cards it still produces
a convincing effect for stereo sound.
Heh, and while it’s not exactly what most people were buying an X-Fi for in 2007, it
also has a respectable wavetable chipset with SoundFont support for General MIDI playback.
[onestop.mid plays]
Plus it comes with an impressive allotment of software for manipulating
SoundFonts and GM instrument layouts, and a fascinating program called 3D MIDI Player
that applies CMSS on top of MIDI playback so instruments move around in 3D space.
[POP_3D.mid plays in "3D" with instruments moving right to left]
All right let’s slice open the sleeve and check out that DVD-ROM demo disc.
And whadduya know, it comes with demos.
Something called Sounds Best on Sound Blaster and demos for two games
F.E.A.R., which is already on here, and Battlefield 2, nice choices.
We’ll get to some gaming soon, but first there’s the Sound Blaster demo program:
an interactive multimedia info dump boasting about the Creative product lineup and letting
you know just how awesome your new X-Fi Platinum can be.
Speaking of which, a good chunk of the DVD is packed with video clips and trailers for
products that work well with Creative sound devices.
Unfortunately, the video and audio compression don’t do them justice, but oh well, still
neat to have an archive of mid-2000s game trailers.
[“Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Rated M for Mature.”]
Finally, let’s get to some actual gaming on this gaming-focused sound card!
And we’re starting with the demo it came with for Battlefield 2.
[sounds of the field of battle commence]
[shooty shooty bang bang]
Man do I love the older Battlefield games.
Never did get to play BF2 when it was new, but even just messing around with bots in
single player is darned enjoyable.
As for the audio, well it sounds fantastic to me.
The demo has an X-Fi specific mode you can enable in the options menu, so that’s what
I did, cranking the quality to the max.
Which is what I’ll be doing with each of the games we’ll be looking at, because there
is no reason not to go for the absolute highest sound settings with this card installed.
Not that it’s much of a challenge for this PC anyway considering the Intel QX6850 and
all that, but yeah.
Let’s move onto something with a more notable difference in audio: Doom 3.
As of the 1.3 patch it offers EAX 4.0 support when used with OpenAL-supporting drivers so
this seemed like an obvious test for this card.
But to start things off, check out how it sounds under the software sound mode.
["Welcome to Mars. All new arrivals need to check in at reception."]
["All right bio-scan looks good, you're cleared for entry."]
[Doom 3 atmospheric noises]
["On behalf of the UAC, welcome to Mars City"]
It’s steady and clear and more often than not that’s
just how Doom 3 sounded, especially if you were playing on a typical integrated chipset.
But now listen to the hardware-accelerated EAX 4.0 mode.
["Welcome to Mars. All new arrivals need to check in at reception."]
["All right bio-scan looks good, you're cleared for entry."]
[same voices and sounds as before, just with far more reverb and depth]
["On behalf of the UAC, welcome to Mars City"]
Dude, it sounds like a different game!
["Okay, there's a few things we need to take care of first."]
["This is your personal data assistant."]
["You'll need this to access all secure areas."]
Each room and environment has its own sound profile, character voices no longer sound
flat and have some distance to them, and the combat is sheer chaos with some serious punch to it.
[chaotic combat with punchy seriousness ensues.]
Punch and reverb, lots of reverb.
I dig it though.
And yes I know there are ways to get EAX audio on non-Creative cards through software, even
on a more modern system.
But I’m sure y’all know by now that I’m almost always gonna go with original hardware
when I can, and Doom 3 is a prime example as to why.
Another reason why is it just gives me an excuse to revisit some of my favorite games
from the time, like FlatOut 2 here.
Yeah I figured it’s time I show a racing game that’s not an NFS title, and this one was great.
[engines revving, metal crunching, dirt flying]
FlatOut 2’s sound effects have never been
particularly noteworthy in my opinion, really it was the licensed soundtrack that stood out.
But blasting Audioslave is probably not the best idea in the realm of YouTube Content
ID, so you’ll have to settle for the sounds of exploding cars and shearing metal.
[exploding cars, shearing metal]
All right that’s it, I just wanted to play this game again.
Uh moving onto Age of Mythology!
Once again it doesn’t push the X-Fi card to its limits or anything, but you always
ask me to play more RTS games, and this one’s a classic
with lots of memorable sound effects, so why not.
[sound effects and music of a mythologically memorable variety]
Yeah I ended up playing this a lot longer than intended, it’s just a dang fun game!
And hearing that lovely soundtrack and all those loud goats
in the highest quality possible makes me happy.
Finally, let’s give a snippet of time to Half-Life 2, a game that still boasts one
of the best aural soundscapes to this day if you ask me.
["Welcome to City 17. You have chosen, or been chosen,"]
["to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers."]
[shot rings out, helicopter flies over]
[general soundscape of City 17, with various sci-fi sirens and distant trains]
Again I don’t think this is pulling off anything specific to the
card itself, but when a game is as well-made as this one in terms of sound design I really don’t mind.
Half-Life 2 just oozes style, with its dystopian world of Combine soldiers and headcrabs and
SMGs echoing off the decrepit walls of City 17.
It’s an engaging soundscape to this day and whether or not this card makes much difference,
I’m happy it sounds as good as it possibly can.
And that’s about it for the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal Champ whatever.
Really it’s just about the single best card I could ask for in a Windows XP machine, and
even today the specs are still pretty excellent.
It beats the pants off every integrated sound chipset I’ve used and there’s a reason
I go with dedicated sound hardware to this day.
Granted I stopped using internal cards a while back on modern systems due to things like
noise and interference.
But when it comes to PCs I put together for playing older games with specific sound hardware
in mind and wanting to capture gameplay as legit as possible, something like a mid-2000s
X-Fi setup makes all the sense in the world.
If you enjoyed what you just saw then sweet!
Lemme know in the comments what kind of sound card you had in 2007, or whether you had one at all.
I’ve also covered a variety of sound devices in the past so maybe check those out too if
you’re interested.
And as always thank you very much for watching!