[rsc3da]

So I have a Sound Blaster ZxR card with SBX support and I wanted to get support for CMSS-3D as well. So I pulled a Rocketfish brand card out of an old build, that is a duplicate of the X-Fi Extreme Audio (identical to it I think). The card has S/PDIF out and I am connecting this to my Sound Blaster ZxR S/PDIF in, this is to get the CMSS-3D functionality for gaming only. I enable CMSS-3D and disable all SBX effects on the ZxR then I can hear CMSS-3D effects through the Z's DAC.
 
I have read that the X-Fi Extreme Audio is not an actual X-Fi card but does have the X-Fi features through software rather than hardware, so essentially it is emulated I guess. My question is does this even matter? Would this mean there will be an additional load on my CPU to handle the emulation for X-Fi features? I have a quad-core 3GHz processor so would it even be noticeable?
 
If I were to upgrade to say an X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro which does have hardware support for X-Fi, will I notice a difference in the sound quality or performance as compared to the X-Fi Extreme Audio I am currently using?
 
Since I pulled this card out of an old build I haven't had to spend anything yet just to get CMSS-3D functionality. If I upgrade the card to another such as the X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro it's whatever it's going for second hand.

 

[Fegefeuer]

no, the Xtreme Audio does not support all features, let alone all in hardware. Get a cheap X-Fi Titanium, Titanium HD, Fatality. 
 
Save up for a dedicated external system, only use the Titaniums for CMSS-3D over optical.