Soundblaster Extigy Review
Written: Jan 26 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: External, Great Sound, Front Headphone Jack, Optical In and Out
Cons: Eats CPU cycles, Conflicts with some core computer components
The Bottom Line: Unless you absolutely have to have every CPU cycle you can get, buy this card. It is a deal at twice the price, and you will enjoy the remote.
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| pimpin_pete's Full Review: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Extigy Sound Card |
I was in Best Buy the other day and saw that they were having a sale on sound cards. I went in and saw they were selling the Extigy for 75 USD and decided to buy.
I took it home and opened it, installed everything, plugged it in and had music going very quickly, so if you're worried about installation, stop worrying.
Before I had the Extigy I had the Audigy, another high end sound card from Creative. Unfortunately, the Audigy was in a computer that I was receieve are large power surge and ultimately died. So, in my mind I was comparing the Extigy to the Audigy.
I came to the conclusion that the Extigy sounds fabulous. It sounds nearly the same as the Audigy, so the Extigy has very high fidelity.
Also, the Extigy is very convenient. The remote has not died on me. Although the batteries that come with the remote last for only a couple of minutes. The card supports more than just left and right channels. I have not taken advantage of this, so I cannot remark on how well it does.
Also, the headphone jack on the front of the Extigy cancels out the line out to the speakers, which is a very big plus for me. Also, this card is very good at recording instruments. I play guitar and record seriously with the Extigy, the recording sounds great, I am very impressed.
Now, the bad things. I am also a gamer, and as a gamer, I want as much of my CPU working on the game I am playing. Unfortunately, the Extigy does eat up the CPU a little bit. It is unavoidable, but it will take about 3 - 4% of your CPU; sometimes more, sometimes less. But it will take some, so if you are already hurting in that situation, you might consider a different sound card.
Also, drivers have not been updated for this card since early 2002. I figured this out when I had problems installing something off of a CD-ROM drive in Win2K. My computer would beging accessing the CD in the drive and then give me a blue screen of death. The way I circumvent this is buy shutting off the Extigy when I am installing anything off of a CD, while this is an IRQ conflict that is not entirely the Extigy's fault, the fact that Creative has not addressed this is somewhat disturbing.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 75
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Epinions.com ID:
pimpin_pete
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Reviews written: 3
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