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Page 3 of 3 The idea behind these tests are simple. Being pushed as an aid to gaming, will they make any real difference? Sure they usually give a few FPS here and there over onboard sound, but will it enhance, as everything suggests? Test computer as follows, - Gigabyte GA965P S3
- Conroe E6600
- 8800GTS 640Mb
- 2Gb Geil PC6400
- Seagate SATA2 600Gb RAID
- WinXP Pro SP2 (fully updated)
Games used in this test,
- Quake 4 (1.4.2 Patch)
- Battlefield 2142 (1.25 Patch)
- Battlefield 2 (1.41 Patch on Tampa Map)
- Half Life 2
- CS: Source
Benchmarks used,
Please note - all multiplayer except Half Life 2. Resolution is 1680x1050 at 60Hz The first graph here is the gaming results. You can see a very clear win for the XF-I in all tests. All games were run at default settings and drivers at default. No part of the system was overclocked and I was using the latest drivers from both companies. Once the XF-I was installed, I selected the relevant options in the ‘in game’ menus and tested. The next sets of results are the 3D Mark 2003’s sound tests. These results show the opposite which is really strange. The overall score was down by 100 points. Though not to important, I hope this is a driver issue.
Conclusion.
Frames per second aside, what’s it like? To be honest I never really noticed much in Half Life 2 or CS:Source. Quake 4 is menacing on any sound card and this didn’t disappoint. It was very good. Battlefield 2 was good too, and the Tampa map is excellent to play on with the XF-i.
Until Battlefield 2142. I was blown away by the change. This game has the XF-I option in the menu and it really works. I cannot stress how much you need one of these cards if you are an avid Battlefield 2142 player. It does say this on the Creative site and the Battlefield 2142 site as well. Nothing prepares you though, for the change in gaming experience! 
This card only got 8/10 due to the driver issues on the disc, which I never installed. Drivers aside, and excellent card, and if you play BF2142, it’s a must! Pros - Battlefield 2142
- FPS boost
- Low Profile
- Cheap
Cons Forum Discussion Author Admin
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Hardware 
