Hey everyone! Sorry for the extended hiatus which I have been taking lately from the website. I'm currently in the process of graduation and moving to a new city to earn a Masters Degree in Communications.
You may remember the OCZ DIY Gaming Notebook Pre-Install article which I wrote. I have since completed that build which went very well. When life slows down I will write an extended article about it. Also whenever I get a spare second I have been playing Soulcalibur IV on the Xbox 360. The game is excellent! It is even better with the optional arcade stick. I will try to get an article about that published at some point as well.
My latest gaming experince came today with Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People for Wii. The first episode in this series is hilarious in my opinion. If you are a fan of the Homestar Runner cartoon series it is a must buy.
There is a plethora of video game and tech news stories that I have wanted to provide my opinion about. As soon as life gets back to normal, it will be business as usual and I will crank out daily articles. Until then...check back often and just know that I am still alive. :)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Personal Update...
Monday, August 4, 2008
Xbox 360 Price Cuts Coming September 7th
Interesting bit of news coming from Fudzilla today. According to David Stellmack, he was able to "confirm from a very reliable source that on September 7th Microsoft will be dropping prices". This new price drop had already been mentioned, but now we have a date. Apparently recent price cuts were just not enough to make Microsoft feel comfortable with their place in the market. Should this be true it may prove very beneficial for Microsoft this Fall, until Sony responds with their own price drop.
This new price drop would not be surprising considering the slow down in Xbox 360 console sales lately. The real trick would be if Microsoft decides to make all aspects of Xbox Live for free. Many gamers however, will tell you that they are not against paying for such an awesome service like Xbox Live.
Needless to say if this rumor proves to be true the stakes will be increased in the console war.
Update: In case you missed it, VG Chartz also broke this story with some very clear evidence.
Xbox 360 will get price cut
"Well, if you just purchased an Xbox 360 20GB Pro system when Microsoft dropped the price to $299, you might be in for a bit of disappointment, as we have been able to confirm from a very reliable source that on September 7th, Microsoft will be dropping prices. We expect that this will be the first aggressive shot that will start a price war among the console vendors.
The September 7th price drop will see the low-end Xbox Arcade system move to a $199 price point. With the new 60GB version of the Xbox 360 Pro system moving to a $299 price point the Xbox 360 Elite will move to a $399 price point.
There will be at least some unhappiness surrounding this price drop to those who dove in at $299 for the 20GB Pro system when Microsoft was clearing out inventory. Still, we expect that Microsoft will announce that it will start selling the 60GB hard drive separately or drop the price on the 120GB hard drive to a bit more affordable level.
The big worry is that Microsoft can’t afford to drop the price this much and still turn a profit. The reality is that with all of the recent moves by Microsoft to reduce the overall cost of the Xbox 360 platform they should still be able to turn a slight profit to break even on each Xbox 360 that they sell. The only exception being the $199 Arcade system where they likely break even or lose $10 to $20 on every console sold, but they make it up on software, accessories, and subscriptions/points that these customers buy.
We do believe that this is the first round in this holiday season’s console price war. We are expecting with this move by Microsoft that they are going to be aggressive in trying to attack not only the Wii, but also the PlayStation 3, to build additional market share; and they obviously do believe that price is still the dominating key factor beyond exclusive titles that go into the decision making process on which console consumers will purchase."
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
EVGA's YouTube Contest Extended
EVGA's YouTube Commercial Contest has now been officially extended. The contest was suppose to be finished tomorrow (July 31st), but now EVGA has decided to accept entries until August 24th. To date, there have only been 17 video entries. This is quite sad considering how many awesome prizes are up for grabs this year. I would have expected the PC Gaming community to have shown more support for this event by now, especially considering how many gamers love EVGA.
You may remember in years past the scavenger hunts that EVGA would have on their website. Thousands of gamers would participate hoping to win a prize. This year to celebrate their 9th Anniversary, EVGA is doing something quite different. EVGA is having a commercial competition on YouTube. So get out your video cameras, because there is over $25,000 in prizes at stake. The competition is being sponsered by 14 big names in the tech industry.
To learn more about the contest please visit the EVGA OnTheTube Contest Page.
Three of the Best Videos Submitted So Far:
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty PCI-E Review
The PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series sound card is the latest high-end gaming audio component from Creative Labs. Unlike the previous X-Fi line of sound cards the Titanium Series uses PCI Express technology to connect to your motherboard. If you have been wondering for years when the small PCI Express 1x slot would be put to great use look no further than Creative's new sound card.
Interestingly, back in 2005 Steve Erickson, vice president for Creative's audio products shared some doubt on the integration of X-Fi over PCI-E:
"As far as PCI Express (PCIe) is concerned, which is the next bus, what we found is that the performance of PCIe is truly bad for audio. We are seeing four times degradation on the bus for audio.And yet here we are in 2008 with a working high end PCI-E X-Fi sound card made by Creative. Apparently going back to the drawing board with the engineers got the job done.
PCIe is designed for graphics and high data transfer, but audio sends very small packets and the overhead can be very big! Moving the data across PCIe is much, much higher than PCI. So what we have to do is go back to the drawing board and work on the transport part of the chip and re-design it to add more silicon to overcome some of the problems we had with PCIe. So for us to come up with a PCIe solution is going to take a while because we have to overcome the problems we're facing with that bus."
I have had this card since launch, but only now am I publishing a review of the product. I have enjoyed the sound card so much, and I have been feeling that I should publish a review for a while. I apologize if this review seems dated. I have been in the process of writing for quite some time.
Please note: the following review is qualitative and not quantitative (containing benchmark numbers).
Technical Specifications
- 24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rate
- 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output
- 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output
- 16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8,11.025,16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz
- ASIO 2.0 support at 16bit/44.1kHz,16-bit/48kHz, 24-bit/44.1kHz 24-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/96kHz with direct monitoring
- Enhanced SoundFont support at up to 24-bit resolution
- 64MB of X-RAM
- Analog output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-weighted): 109dB
- Line in / Microphone in (shared 1/8" mini jack)
- Speaker out (4x 1/8" mini jacks)
- Optical out (TOSLINK)*
- Optical in (TOSLINK)
- Intel HD Audio Compatible Front Panel Header (2x5pin)
Speaker Support
- Stereo/2.1 Speakers
- 4/4.1 Speakers
- 5.1 Speakers
- 7.1 Speakers
- Headphones
- PCI Express 1x
Package Contents
The packaging is nice and simple. Just your basic Creative X-Fi box with Fatal1ty logos everywhere. The contents inside the box are packed well. Unfortunately the X-Fi Professional Series does not come with a lot besides the sound card and driver CD. It would have been nice to throw in a game like Mass Effect
or Unreal Tournament 3 just for good measure. Clearly such a promotion is costly for Creative, but it often has the ability to increase interest in a hardware component.
Test Setup
In order to account for potential issues with overclocking and high end hardware the following test system was used. Obviously this is a rig that requires shelling out some serious cash, but when you are as serious about gaming and new hardware as I am, it comes with the territory.
Hardware Installation
Installing the sound card should be no issue provided that the video card right below the PCI-E 1x slot does not have an extravagant cooling system. Many times the heatsinks on the back of a video card are removable and not always necessary. Like always, do your research before just assuming that something will work. It is better to have a cool and stable system then to take unnessary financial risks.
Really glad to see Creative lighting the X-Fi logo and not the Fatal1ty logo like previous sound cards. The white logo looks pretty nice.
There it is installed.Software Installation
Here are some screen from the software installation:
Basic Creative User Agreement.
Installation actually takes quite a few minutes.
You will have to enter your product key or the software will not function.
Functionality
Below you can see a picture of the X-Fi Audio Console. It has the ability of switching between 3 modes: Entertainment, Audio Creation, and Gaming Modes. Particularly as a gamer it is important to pay attention to the Crystalizer, CMSS-3D, and Bass Boost. Turning these settings on for the first time may surprise you. A friend of mine who has been a gamer all of his life, but too cheap to ever buy a nice audio card was shocked by the difference. Seriously these features alone make the X-Fi worth it. It is much easier to hear all the chaos around you on the virtual battlefield. More on that later.
Testing
Blu-ray Movie Watching
In order to test the sound quality for movies, I watched Gattaca, Cast Away, and Nacho Libre. In all three instances the sound reproduction was amazing. This was extremely good news considering my previous sound card would constantly make popping sounds during the films. The music and also the speech throughout all three films was top notch. Specifically I aquired this sound card for gaming, however if you are looking to put together a fantastic media rig this should be the sound card of choice.
PC Gaming
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Infinity Ward's smash hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a remarkable game. Not only for the exceedingly intense single player campaign, but also for the very customizable and addictive multiplayer. Fetch...did I say addictive? I meant to say it is a nightly ritual. I might forget to brush my teeth before climbing into bed, but I never forget to get a few rounds of Team Deathmatch in. It is just that good.I was pleasantly surprised by what a difference the X-Fi sound card made. Gunfire and explosions sound incredible! Not only that, turning on CMSS-3D really helps when listening for enemy footsteps and grenades. Most of all I was impressed at how much the gameplay seemed to smooth out. The occassional jerky moments I would get during an intense firefight using the ASUS SupremeFX II card were gone. Instead, no matter what was happening on screen it was butter smooth. Nice!
Unreal Tournament 3
Honestly, if there is one game that I really suggest gamers take a second look at it is UT3. This new edition in the Unreal Tournament Series offers superb graphics and great gameplay. The vehicles are really over the top this time out, and I consider that a great thing. Not only that the game can be found for only $19.99for the standard edition and $27.99for the collectors edition. One of the best PC Gaming deals I know of right now.As far as the sound quality is concerned...well let me just say the word "Headshot!" never sounded so good. Epic Games has a tendency to work closely with Creative to offer gamers a unique sound experience. It is no different here. From my testing, the glitches which first occured with X-Fi cards are gone. Enabling "Hardware Acceleration" was the cause of much grief when UT3 was first released. I can confirm that after hours of gameplay on many different modes that the X-Fi Titanium does not suffer from the same issues. To be honest everything worked perfect in this game.
Conclusion:
Creative has put together one awesome product with the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty PCI-E! My PC Games have never sounded so good. Although my installation was rather smooth, it required a BIOS update on my motherboard to get things working just right. So that is something I would certainly look into before installing the card. Update your BIOS and your chipset drivers and you should be fine.
Pros:
-Great bang for your buck
-Fantastic Quality
-Superb Audio
-Provides more room for an SLI or Crossfire setup
-Does not run hot
Con:
-Install can be rather finicky
Shopping
Study Up on Great Savings from Newegg.com, expires 8/3
**UPDATE**
I was also able to test with 2 brand new EVGA GTX 280 SSC in SLI. The sound quality remained the same, but the gameplay seemed to be smoother. Obviously the FPS was able to increase with these powerful new GPUs by NVIDIA.
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