QuantumForce goes Creative Xi-Fi

[saaya]

The X-Fi logo would definitely sell you more boards, and it is still the better gaming chip, regardless of the lack of hardware acceleration. Hardware acceleration would be awesome, though. Perhaps the software solution for low-end and hardware acceleration for high-end? Wishful thinking?

how do you mean? we only make high end boards so then we SHOULD offer hardware acceleration... the thing is that this would increase costs a LOT, and not all people will want this soundcard... so in this case it would make more sense to just bundle the board with a xifi soundcard...

Could this possibly be going in the X58 Quantum Force.....

In all honesty, I think most people would prefer the extra PCIe X1 slot rather than a slot that would only accept a Foxconn card. Unless you meant a card that is software locked and not a specific slot.

I personally do not mind buying an extra audio card. My theory has always been as follows:
buy speakers from people who only make speakers
buy Monitors from people who only make monitors ect..

yeah, even if the card we make works on other boards, we couldnt really guarantee it does... and if its a foxconn only solution making it an expensive one isnt a good idea imo. having a real xifi solution with full hw acceleration for all the sound features is a lil bit of an investment, and then having that investment stuck to one board or one series of boards isnt that nice...

not to mention again that quite some people dont really care or definately dont want this solution, which doesnt mean theyd boycott the board if we do use creative, but they sure dont want to pay a bonus for it...

about buying hw only from a mfc who doesnt do anything else...
im affraid this is almost impossible with hw nowadays, depends on how you define it though... there are large contract manufacturers like foxconn and palit and pcpartner etc who produce a huge percentage of todays hardware for all the different companies who then sell it as their own branded stuff.

how about scrap onboard sound completly and bundle a regular pcie x1 sound card with the board?

exactly!
BUT, a sond card costs notably more than adding our own soundcard or onboard sound... notably! so then again it would mean 25$ more for the cheapest sound card with barely any improvements on sound quality or having even worse sound, or 50$+ more for an improvement in sound quality, BUT... how many people wana spend an extra 50$?

saaya, i guess it really depends on what you're trying to do. Are you trying to sell as many boards as possible (to anyone) or are you trying to make the ultimate xtreme enthusiast board?

If you want to sell boards, X-Fi on the packaging will no doubt increase sales.

If you want to create the ultimate enthusiast board, then get rid of onboard sound as all the extreme enthusiasts will get a card anyway.

well said! that brings it all to the point... the goal is of course to achieve both...