Some creative soundcards incompatible with SSDs? And what should I get now?
May 9, 2013 at 6:14 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 13

ropeadope

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Has anyone else heard of some creative sound cards are incompatible when using a solid state drive and perhaps Windows 7 64 bit? Pretty specific I know but I fall into that category. Here's a long boring thread about it: http://forums.creative.com/showthread.php?t=567821
 
I liked my X-fi pretty good but if I put that sucker in, not only would it likely not work but it could totally mess up my computer and I'd probably have to end up reinstalling windows. That's a lot of risk to take for a sound card. I don't know why it would be incompatible. I think Creative is just ignoring the problem. Maybe they could release some drivers.
 
Anyways, I think the best solution is to stop putting up with these weird creative sound card incompatibilities and get a non creative-labs sound card. I'm using on board motherboard sound which is not too good. I listen to a ton of music on my computer and I would like to get the best out of the sound I can, what would you smart folks recommend I get? I got a headphone amp and some cheap headphones at the moment but my biggest problem is that all the audio from my computer is coming from on-board sound. Thanks!
 
May 9, 2013 at 4:16 PM Post #3 of 13
I have a Win 7 64  with a 3770K O/C 4.5  with a SSD  as Local disk "C"  and a creative titanium hd card .No problem with drivers as I registered officially with Creative and downloaded latest. Have you just got the Windows version?  As they dont allow the card its full range.
      No problem with the card. 
 
May 10, 2013 at 12:52 AM Post #4 of 13
I don't know, with the 100s of people's systems it's already ruined I don't really wanna risk it, even though it might work fine. What should I look into getting? I don't want to use onboard sound any longer :frowning2: Can I do something like....Onboard sound->*mystery device that vastly improves the source audio*->headphone amp->headphones? Or is a new sound card the only option? Sorry I don't know what I'm talking about :p
 
May 10, 2013 at 2:23 AM Post #5 of 13
Quote:
I don't know, with the 100s of people's systems it's already ruined I don't really wanna risk it, even though it might work fine. What should I look into getting? I don't want to use onboard sound any longer :frowning2: Can I do something like....Onboard sound->*mystery device that vastly improves the source audio*->headphone amp->headphones? Or is a new sound card the only option? Sorry I don't know what I'm talking about :p

 
100s of people out of how many in total exactly?
I can personally tell you I have 4 systems at home with Creative cards, all of them with a SSD and in RAID configs, not one of them has a problem bar from one having somewhat high DPC latency.
 
The same can be said for Asus cards (or Auzentech or anyone else) with their own problems as well. Just take a look into their support forums and you'll see them.
 
If you really want a fail-proof with something that just works, going entirely external is your only choice. But again, I'm telling you that I personally have no problems with Creative's drivers running off a SSD.
 
May 10, 2013 at 3:36 AM Post #6 of 13
Well I had problems with my X-fi on my Win7x64 SSD build right away and never could rectify it, would cause my computer to just freeze up instantly when booting up, it was pretty awful and I don't want to get back into that. That was 5 months ago but I don't think Creative has issued any drivers to specifically combat the strange compatibility issue. Sooo perhaps I will go all external as you suggested. What exactly am I looking for, though?
 
May 11, 2013 at 9:41 AM Post #8 of 13
Have you tried Removing ALL the drivers for the card and then downloading the latest ones from Creative . Creative have an inbuilt program to
 update them maybe your is corrupted . Then try   downloading them manually. 
 
May 11, 2013 at 10:54 AM Post #9 of 13
Quote:
Do you have a budget?
The standard entry level FiiO E09k + E17 or Schiit Modi + Magni combo is a good starting point.

 
Not sure if those actually things or if you're just making up words. Just kiddin! Thanks for the recommendations. Basically what I'm looking for is a DAC? Sigh, been here 9 years and still know nothing about audio gear :<
 
May 18, 2013 at 8:19 PM Post #11 of 13
Quote:
Well, here's the important question: do you play PC games?
 
If not, get a plug-and-play DAC like the Schiit Magni or an ODAC.
 
If so, get an X-Fi card; they're not just DACs, but gaming DSPs.

 

I already have the X-fi Xtreme gamer card and like it a lot, but now on my newer system which is only 5 months old, it's incompatible. I think Creative could easily release some drivers to solve the problem but they haven't done so yet...see OP for more info :p
 
May 19, 2013 at 6:50 AM Post #12 of 13
I noticed that the SSD complaints are generally coming from owners of the older PCI X-Fi cards...but there's still the occasional poster with an X-Fi Titanium variant, which would be PCIe.
 
I'd look into this myself, if I had cash to spare for a desktop SSD.
 
May 19, 2013 at 4:11 PM Post #13 of 13
The only logical way to find out where the problem lies is to ask those with problems and those who dont have problems with the Creative cards and SSDs is  to list the make of SSDs  which has problems with a Creative card and those that dont. 
                                  My SSD is a Mushkin 120GB -using SATA 600
                                   Creative titanium HD-PCI-E card.Using Creative official  drivers.
                                     No problems.
 

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