Our testing methods
We'll be comparing the X-Fi XtremeMusic's performance to that of M-Audio's Revolution 7.1, our Sapphire motherboard's integrated Realtek ALC880 "Azalia" audio, and Creative's own Audigy2 ZS. As the X-Fi's predecessor, the Audigy2 ZS's inclusion is easy to justify. We also chose to include M-Audio's Revolution 7.1 because, in our opinion, it sounds better than any other consumer-level Envy24 implementation on the market. Our Sapphire motherboard's integrated Realtek HD audio isn't a direct competitor to the X-Fi, but we've included it to show what one can expect from onboard audio.

All tests were run three times, and their results were averaged, using the following test systems.

Processor AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 2.4GHz
System busHyperTransport 16-bit/1GHz
MotherboardSapphire PI-A9RX480
BIOS revisionBeta 07/28/2005
North bridgeATI RX480
South bridgeATI SB450
Chipset driversCatalyst 5.7
Memory size1GB (2 DIMMs)
Memory type OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Rev 2 DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
CAS latency (CL)2
RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)2
RAS precharge (tRP)2
Cycle time (tRAS)5
Hard drives Western Digital Raptor WD360GD 37GB SATA
AudioSB450/ALC880M-Audio Revolution 7.1Creative Audigy2 ZSCreative X-Fi XtremeMusic
Audio driverRealtek HD 1.24M-Audio 1024Creative 1.84.55Creative 5.12.5.1141
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT with ForceWare 77.77 drivers
OS Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS updatesService Pack 2, DirectX 9.0c

Our test system was powered by OCZ PowerStream power supply units. The PowerStream was one of our Editor's Choice winners in our latest PSU round-up.

We used the following versions of our test applications:

The test systems' Windows desktop was set at 1280x1024 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests. Most of the 3D gaming tests used the Medium detail image quality settings, with the exception that the resolution was set to 640x480 in 32-bit color.

All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.