do all new X-Fi's come with the Heatsink?

[CHaynes112]

^...?

[Disposibleteen]

To which heatsinkk are you referring, i just looked on Newegg at all of them and did not see a single heatsink in the lot.

[CHaynes112]

a small black hs :confused:

[mdzcpa]

Mine is fairly new and it does not have any heatsinks. Then again, the card hardly gets warm anywhere.

[CHaynes112]

hmm... i am gonna try to research this a little more

[cx323]

hmm... i am gonna try to research this a little more

i don't know about newegg, but my local bestbuy has one with heatsinks

[nn_step]

I have never seen a Sound Card with a Heat sink.. EVER

[mdzcpa]

Well, after doing a bit of googling, I see that the newer cards are indeed coming with a heatsink it appears. Odd, though, cause after 3 hours of BF2 with Ultra High Quality sound, the core is lukewarm at most.

Smells like a marketing gimmick to me.

[CHaynes112]

Smells like a marketing gimmick to me.

Perhaps

[OmegaMerc]

Or maybe a problem they've realized too late? :confused:

[krille]

I'm gonna look at mine, it just arrived 15 minutes ago.

Update: Yes, it indeed has the aforementioned heatsink. Will post pic in a minute.

Update 2: Pictures added

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/7496/dsc000311nr.th.jpg (http://img463.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc000311nr.jpg)

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/4577/dsc000321xc.th.jpg (http://img463.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc000321xc.jpg)

http://img477.imageshack.us/img477/2756/dsc000337wk.th.jpg (http://img477.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc000337wk.jpg)

http://img477.imageshack.us/img477/8747/dsc000346ou.th.jpg (http://img477.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc000346ou.jpg)

Ok there goes. Very fresh, arrived less than half an hour ago. :)

[OmegaMerc]

Talked to a SB rep,

"Hi everyone,

Based on the high demand we are seeing for the recently launched Sound Blaster X-Fi range of sound cards, we have been working towards increasing supply. Achieving this involves using different techniques and one of these is refining the production process of the X-Fi chip, which in turn results in the chip generating more heat. All chips generate heat and some run very hot, but this is not an issue providing some form of heat dissipation is implemented. We have therefore implemented a heat-sink on all Sound Blaster X-Fi based cards going forwards.
Sound Blaster X-Fi products, with or without a heat-sink, have identical audio quality, performance levels, feature set and reliability.
We are continuing efforts to refine the production process further and may in the future revert to a cooler-running X-Fi chip that does not require a heat-sink.
As always, Creative tests and makes changes throughout the life cycle of a product to ensure that we only ship hardware that is reliable and of the highest quality.



Cat

Forum Administrator
Creative Labs"

[krille]

Does that mean the silicon I got was of sub-par lower-bin than previous batches? :(

[mdzcpa]

Hmmmm...that deosn't sound good. My chip never gets more than lukewarm. Sounds like they have gone to other foundries in order to meet demand....or perhaps current yields just aren't what they should be. Either way, I'm sure the heatsink takes care of the issue.

[Sentential]

Does that mean the silicon I got was of sub-par lower-bin than previous batches? :(
Wouldnt be any worse than ATi or anyone else has done in the past.

[GazC]

Talked to a SB rep,

"Hi everyone,

Based on the high demand we are seeing for the recently launched Sound Blaster X-Fi range of sound cards, we have been working towards increasing supply. Achieving this involves using different techniques and one of these is refining the production process of the X-Fi chip, which in turn results in the chip generating more heat. All chips generate heat and some run very hot, but this is not an issue providing some form of heat dissipation is implemented. We have therefore implemented a heat-sink on all Sound Blaster X-Fi based cards going forwards.
Sound Blaster X-Fi products, with or without a heat-sink, have identical audio quality, performance levels, feature set and reliability.
We are continuing efforts to refine the production process further and may in the future revert to a cooler-running X-Fi chip that does not require a heat-sink.
As always, Creative tests and makes changes throughout the life cycle of a product to ensure that we only ship hardware that is reliable and of the highest quality.



Cat

Forum Administrator
Creative Labs"


That sounds fishy to me. Seems like they are employing heatsinks to allow them to use Audio processors that have failed normal testing.

[MaxxxRacer]

My chip gets pretty freeking hot.. cant hold my finger on it for too long.

[Kayin]

Mine has the heatsink too... Odd...

[mdzcpa]

Hmmmmm...I double checked after an hour straight of BF2 with Ultra High Quality sound...just luke warm on the chip. 30 minutes of MP3s yielded the same.

That's a pretty interesting variation in temps. Odd.

[MaxxxRacer]

I should state that my chip only gets how after listening to music or something similar. just putzing around the internet doesnt get it too warm.

On the flipside, it looks like a drunkey monkey soldered the cap that is sitting next to the chip. The caps leads are only partially in and one lead is all bent up.. QC on this card was sub par.. tried to resolder it myself, but the solder they use is really freaky and didnt want to melt.

[Daveb2012]

I added a heat sink to mine im sure it doesn't need it but I have a lot of extra little ones and nothing to put them on.

[axion]

Guess it can't hurt :)

[rick_fx]

Hmmmmm...I double checked after an hour straight of BF2 with Ultra High Quality sound...just luke warm on the chip. 30 minutes of MP3s yielded the same.

That's a pretty interesting variation in temps. Odd.

Mine too is only luke warm, even after listening to music for over 2 hours on end.

[Pinnacle]

I, too have alittle black one on mine

[Andrew LB]

I have a little black heatsink on my APU. I have not noticed any high temps on it thus far, otherwise i'd add some active cooling. ;)

[JoeBar]

I too have a xtrememusic and it came with a silver heatsink.

[krille]

Silver, do you mean silver-sprayed or aluminium? Pic?

[YanBooth]

My X-Fi Platinum Pro has that little heatsink...

[JoeBar]

Silver, do you mean silver-sprayed or aluminium? Pic?
That "silver" heatsink turned to be black also... :confused2:
Sorry for misinformation.

[Okda]

mine ordered on 2/1/2006 came with black h/s also

[cody45]

Yea, my card has the heatsink.

[YanBooth]

mine has it... i dont know why it needs it... its not doing :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: for me.... why the (#$&()#&$:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: can't surround work with optical out... i paid $400 for 32%#@$:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: optical...


lol, just HAD to get that out real bad

yan

[One_Hertz]

my xtrememusic has no heatsink and I can barely feel it heating up after hours of gaming/listening to music. I bought mine as soon as they came out.

[Donnie27]

Got mine as gift one month after they launched, no heatsink and it barely gets warm.

[Okda]

only the latest batch is the one with the h/s and they r suposed to have new firmware that doesn't cause any problems with nforce4 mobos

[krille]

mine has it... i dont know why it needs it... its not doing :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: for me.... why the (#$&()#&$:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: can't surround work with optical out... i paid $400 for 32%#@$:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: optical...


lol, just HAD to get that out real bad

yanBecause it doesn't support live encoding of any sort (such as DD5.1 or DTS). It's probably the most noticeable flaw with the X-Fi series. Do your homework next time, or you will be disappointed again. ;)

[zoomee]

This is a FARCE

I'm sick and tired of being the guinea pigs for other companies.

The reason why they have a heatsink now is simple - they overheat - when they overheat they start making a crackling and popping noise (much more noticeable using headphones)

Mine has no heatsink which is why I can tell ya'll it overheats! - doesnt help my system having a Lian LI PCV1000 case (upside down motherboard mounting) hence all heat goes upwards towards the X-FI card - but still - these things should be able to handle it.

Instead - here we have another "bleeding edge" IT Manufacturer trying to cover up their :banana::banana::banana::banana:-ups as usual, by claiming their releasing the heatsink feature for new enhancements - "b0ll9x" I say - more like you dont want to have to recall the thousands of X-Fi cards out there so lets just chuck some crap at the consumers that'l confuse them as to the real reason behind this ploy.

Excuse me for the rant - but needs must - and peeps should be aware of the tricks we "bleeding edge" users have to pay for - in fact - the main reasons i got the xfi was for the front bay - and the mic2 socket on that doesnt even work! - Creative say they dont support it - lol........

:mad:

[003]

Quoted from the official sound blaster forums:

Hi everyone,

Based on the high demand we are seeing for the recently launched Sound Blaster X-Fi range of sound cards, we have been working towards increasing supply. Achieving this involves using different techniques and one of these is refining the production process of the X-Fi chip, which in turn results in the chip generating more heat. All chips generate heat and some run very hot, but this is not an issue providing some form of heat dissipation is implemented. We have therefore implemented a heat-sink on all Sound Blaster X-Fi based cards going forwards.
Sound Blaster X-Fi products, with or without a heat-sink, have identical audio quality, performance levels, feature set and reliability.
We are continuing efforts to refine the production process further and may in the future revert to a cooler-running X-Fi chip that does not require a heat-sink.
As always, Creative tests and makes changes throughout the life cycle of a product to ensure that we only ship hardware that is reliable and of the highest quality.
I hope that clears every thing up. From the way it sounds, the older ones that did not come with a heatsink will overclock more than the ones that did, because "refining the production process" Is like tightening a vice over the clockspeed, making it harder and harder to raise, and it's hotter as well. Of course none of this will ever matter unless somebody makes a program for overclocking the X-fi's :). I'm happy, I have an original fatal1ty with the updated frimware but no heatsink, mine will OC better than the ones with heatsinks :)

[zoomee]

hang on - how the hell does one OC a soundcard? :woot:

Creative can say what they like - Theres allot of angry users on their forums at the moment skanked by all this X-Fi is teh best marlarky.

Simple fact is - they added a heatsink later to improve sound quality running at higher temps - the original version owners without the heatsink just have to get their own - lol! :slap:

[003]

No I put my finger right on the chip of mine when playing BF2 with all the X-fi options enabled, it was hardly warm at all.

[zoomee]

i suppose it'll affect mainly SLi users m8 as their in case temps will be higher :(

ocing a soundcard - lol :rolleyes: :)

[SamHughe]

Himm...I received a $25 gift card from creative some time ago as a settlement for a law suit involving Audigy 2ZS soundcards. I see another gift card in the future because of this heatsink issue. And yes,my xi fi also has a heat sink.

[[XC] Lead Head]

How is having heatsinks an issue? People who have cards without them, there cards one cool to the touch. The people with them, there cards run hot. Whats the big deal?

[003]

Nothing.

[mursaat]

Talked to a SB rep,

Achieving this involves using different techniques and one of these is refining the production process of the X-Fi chip, which in turn results in the chip generating more heat.How can "refining" involve more heat? never seen that in the past :stick:

[OmegaMerc]

How can "refining" involve more heat? never seen that in the past :stick:

Make a thicker wafer or speed up the pass of electrons through a core that is a bit more inefficient causing more heat but shorter distance? Just a guess

[irev210]

My guess is that they are having another foundry make more X-FI chips, but the new foundry cant produce the product at the same specs.

I guess that means more voltage, more heat on a bigger process.


My X-FI is OEM DELL with 16mb ram w/ heatsink. It is very cool running. I also got the adapter to run the built-in headphone connection on the front of my computer :)