Creative 70SB088000004 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Express 1x Interface PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium

Pros: Clean, clear, balanced sound. Works flawlessly with Windows 7 64-bit and 8 GB RAM.

Cons: Creative's technical support is so bad, I hate to give them any more money.

Overall Review: Replaced an X-Fi Elite Pro that didn't work properly with my system with 4 or more GB. The new X-Fi Titanium works without a hitch with my XFX 750i motherboard. Creative had looked at the issue with my previous card and was unable to ever fix it. They make good hardware, but their technical support is the worst I have ever encountered.

Pros: It's a PCIe card It has a range of connection options

Cons: Drivers Bloatware, I mean Creative Apps

Overall Review: The drivers were OK under Windows 7, but the drivers under Windows 8 have been nothing but disappointing. I have since removed this from my PC because Creative has not released a solid driver in some time. Since removing this I have been using onboard audio. I am not an audiophile and won't pretend to be, but I haven't heard a difference yet. The only difference I have noticed is that my audio works when I want it 100% of the time using with onboard. 1 Egg because 0 isn't an option, but I gave this another because the driver was OK on Win7.

Pros: At default settings this card is good, but you won't hear a huge difference over onboard sound (in mp3's), since most motherboard integrated sound chips are capable of the same basic features as the X-Fi series (92 khz 24-bit playback). I'll describe the tweaks in the "Other Thoughts" section. Once tweaked, you'll be blown away (assuming you have decent speakers/headphones) by the quality of the audio. No more do I have to face crackleing in the heavy, rolling bass in songs like "Requiem for a tower" (Lord of the Rings remix of "Requiem of a Dream", high treble's aren't distorted either. It's hard to notice before buying the card, but once you've heard it there's no going back.

Cons: I was under the impression this had X-RAM (onboard RAM to enhance audio performance), but it turns out it doesn't. This isn't a huge problem, since very few games utilise this feature (it requires specific programming) and apparently it doesn't make a huge difference in performance, so I'm still happy. No EMI shield like the Fatal1ty Pro, so if you have to get your card up close and personal with your video card (less than 1 inch away) than you may experience the infamous popping issue (little pops in sound playback, kind of like an old record) to due Electromagnetic-Interference. This vulnerability exists in any unshielded sound card and is not a problem inherent only to X-Fi's. Farther than 1 inch away and you should be good.

Overall Review: This card shines when you activate and tweak the following settings: Crystalizer - For most songs, turn this down to 10-20%, in songs like Poker Face, you may enjoy turning it up to 50%, but no more. To much can kill the bass in a song. CMSS-3D - Great in conjuction with headphones, for some reason, the settings page implies it upscales stereo to 5.1/7.1 surround sound, yet it literally doesn't have any effect with my speakers when playing an mp3 recorded in stearo format. With headphones on it sounds great, as long as you change the channel mode to "Headphones". Playback Mode - This is a biggie. When gaming, set it to gaming mode (duh),when watching movies, set it to Entertainment Mode. When listening to music (mp3's, etc) change it to "Audio Creation Mode", and enable Bit-Matching Playback.This basically uses hardware to upscale sound bitrate to max system rate. This is the key to good mp3 playback.

Pros: Great sound. Went from a SB Live! 24 bit (PCI) to this card and what a difference! Music sounds so much better and so do games. PCIe is great; keep the PCI slots open for older hardware. The software is easy to use and has different modes for games, movies and music.

Cons: Can't get the front panel audio to work, but not sure if it's the sound card or something else.

Overall Review: I was thinking about the Fatal1ty version of this card, but I didn't see the need for 64 MB for sound. I am very happy with the quality of this card.

Pros: Let's see, pro's are, better quality sound than your average built in sound, optical out, and some hany sound features to do lots of fun things with.

Cons: CONS... Apparently DTS and DDL don't support 7.1 speaker systems? It only goes up to 5.1, and when I emailed creative about it, they simply said, "DDL and DTS support only 5.1 digital sound." I'm quite certain that means the sound card doesn't support 7.1 sound when using optical out. Oh, and when using optical out, the drivers can be quite glitchy, especially when starting or switching between programs that want to use your audio configuration differenltly. I've had to reinstall them more than once, and it was a HUGE pain. Creative needs to make some big improvements on their drivers.

Overall Review: The increase in sound quality from basic by this card is pretty nice. I'd say all and all that it's good. Haven't had any problems with the hardware itself, like others supposedly has. I'm very disappointed after finally completing my 7.1 sound system that I found out this card will not support it. If you're using optical out to a 7.1 sound system, or you don't feel like spending large quantities of time dealing with glitchy drivers while using optical out, I wouldn't recommend this card. If youre not using optical out, it's probably quite nice.

Pros: It's been too long since I've used a dedicated sound card. I am so fed up with on board sound and their basic drivers & software. It's fine for anyone with a basic setup; however, if you're a proud owner of a high wattage 5.1 or better speaker system, you need a dedicated sound card. My Logitech z5300e speaker system sounded muddy and the bass was overpowering with the on board sound. Even with the bass dialed all the way down on the speaker controls It was still loud and dirty sounding. With the Creative X-Fi I was able to fine tune the Bass to support the rest of the sounds coming from the speakers... not over power them. This is NOT the end all be all of soundcards. It is a powerful, quality sound card that will satisfy gamers, movie watchers, music lovers and even musicians. It does it all well and does it for a reasonable price.

Cons: The creative software suite is a bit much. There are a LOT of extra programs that come with the CD. You can choose what you want to install and what not to install. I may at some point thin down what I choose to install; however, after hearing so many compaints about drivers issues I wanted to see first hand what all the fuss was about. All the drivers installed just fine off the CD and when I ran the creative udpater, they updated from creative's website without a problem. There are sometimes an audible hiss or click when the system is locked up, this may be a sign of another computer issue and not necessarily the sound cards fault. In my case it was the PCH of my motherboard overheating and locking the system up.

Overall Review: I took a chance after reading all the reviews and having a frankly terrible experience trying to get my old Audigy ZS 2 working in Vista. I hoped after 4+ years and moving to windows 7 that driver support had improved. I was right. I just didn't have a problem. It would be prudent to mention that I started with a fresh hardrive and no previous software installed. All those having a problem may want to do the same. This is nothing new in the computer world. As for those trying to skip this step, just be thorough in your driver removal and ensure your on board sound is disabled in the bios of your motherboard.

Pros: I can hear footsteps and such much easier with cmss3d, helps out your game much easier. Can tell where the tank is on the other side of the wall in battlefield bad company 2. Creative is a must have for gaming because of that alone, I didnt hear any static cracks and pops others complained about, and it installed easily and works fine.

Cons: The drivers were very difficult to install, I had to download a specific driver before the auto update could even detect it. Which for me was very frustrating (probably because I had windows 7 64 bit right when it came out) thats why it lost an egg though.

Pros: The Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium has far exceeded my expectations by producing crisp sharp highs with a deep rich base. Even at extreme low volumes, I can hear the highs and lows with such clarity that can rival any high end surround sound system! The sound enhancement software that comes standard with this product; in particular, CMSS and X-Fi Cyrstalizer is amazing! I feel like I am in the center of a live orchestra because the sound coming from my speakers is so clear and sharp.

Cons: NONE

Overall Review: The SB X-Fi Titanium coupled with the Logitech Z906 speakers and using the DFX plugin for Windows Media Player, I have a better sounding system than my theater system that I have invested thousands of dollars! One last note; due to the magnetism created by video cards; particularly the nvidia chip sets, locate the sound card as far away as possible from the video card -- doing this will eliminate all the interference and will solve the cracking and hissing sound from your speakers. Also, I have two of these cards; one on a 32 bit system and another on a 64 bit system -- both systems work flawlessly. I am amazed that a product costing less than $100.00 can produce these results! The WOW factor that I have from the X-Fi Titanium is OUTSTANDING!