I've been researching a sound card to replace my Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatal1ty because it has started to die/not be recognized by windows from time to time.
My cpu is pretty much only used for gaming:
Asus Maximus III Forumula
i7 860 OC'd to 3.8
2x2 DDR2000
2x60g OCZ Vertex SSD
Sapphire HD5970 OC'd to 850/1200
Antec 1200 Case with 850w PCP&C Silencer
The headphones I currently use are Sennheiser HD595, which I absolutely love. I always have CMSS 3D enabled in all the FPS games I play, and do not want to lose the amazing positional/direction sound I get with my card (IE: being able to pinpoint which direction I hear footsteps or gunshots). However, I never really use Alchemy; so I don't think EAX is too big of a deal(as long as I still get great positional audio).
I have researched both quite a bit and have a few questions/concerns. My first concern is with the Forte; having read many complaints about it picking up EMI/white noise. I am going to have this in the PCIe slot right above my 5970, so there is concern there.
I previously tried an X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro (to replace my Xtremegamer) in that slot and it had horrible white noise/static, and could even hear mouse movement; however, I believe it was driver related because when I uninstalled all creative driver/software and let windows auto detect and install it's own driver it worked perfectly fine. However, that kind of defeats the purpose of buying a 100-200 dollar card and I couldn't use CMSS-3D, so I returned it (tired of dealing with Creatives BS support and drivers).
My concern with the Essence STX is how does it do with positional audio? I know it doesn't have CMSS-3D; which is my main concern. However, it does have Dolby Headphone, but I have no idea if it is as good as CMSS-3d. One reason I am leaning towards the Essence STX, despite no CMSS-3D, is because it has some EMI shielding (plus I have not read many complaints about EMI).
Will the Essence STX still give me great positional audio? Everything I read pretty much states it is great for music, but good to mediocre for gaming.
My cpu is pretty much only used for gaming:
Asus Maximus III Forumula
i7 860 OC'd to 3.8
2x2 DDR2000
2x60g OCZ Vertex SSD
Sapphire HD5970 OC'd to 850/1200
Antec 1200 Case with 850w PCP&C Silencer
The headphones I currently use are Sennheiser HD595, which I absolutely love. I always have CMSS 3D enabled in all the FPS games I play, and do not want to lose the amazing positional/direction sound I get with my card (IE: being able to pinpoint which direction I hear footsteps or gunshots). However, I never really use Alchemy; so I don't think EAX is too big of a deal(as long as I still get great positional audio).
I have researched both quite a bit and have a few questions/concerns. My first concern is with the Forte; having read many complaints about it picking up EMI/white noise. I am going to have this in the PCIe slot right above my 5970, so there is concern there.
I previously tried an X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro (to replace my Xtremegamer) in that slot and it had horrible white noise/static, and could even hear mouse movement; however, I believe it was driver related because when I uninstalled all creative driver/software and let windows auto detect and install it's own driver it worked perfectly fine. However, that kind of defeats the purpose of buying a 100-200 dollar card and I couldn't use CMSS-3D, so I returned it (tired of dealing with Creatives BS support and drivers).
My concern with the Essence STX is how does it do with positional audio? I know it doesn't have CMSS-3D; which is my main concern. However, it does have Dolby Headphone, but I have no idea if it is as good as CMSS-3d. One reason I am leaning towards the Essence STX, despite no CMSS-3D, is because it has some EMI shielding (plus I have not read many complaints about EMI).
Will the Essence STX still give me great positional audio? Everything I read pretty much states it is great for music, but good to mediocre for gaming.
Last edited: