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    Sager NP5793 Sound Card

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Paran0id, Feb 18, 2009.

  1. Paran0id

    Paran0id Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey there everyone, quick questions...

    I just ordered the Sager NP5793 laptop from XoticPC last night, and just to see if my luck would hold, I ordered the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi 7.1 Xtreme ExpressCard to add a lovely addition to the laptop. They emailed me this morning and said there are none left, and said I could either go with standard audio or do the Creative 5.1 external card.

    My two questions are...

    1) Can I purchase the X-Fi 7.1 elsewhere (separately) and install it myself? I heard the laptop was easy to upgrade, but I didn't hear if the soundcard was easy to change. If so, I would love to do that.

    2) I also heard the 5.1 card taxes the CPU fairly hard. Some reports said it averaged up to 40% CPU usage when just playing music, is this actually true? I wouldn't mind downgrading to this, but I would prefer not to have an external sound card.

    Thanks!
    Justin
     
    Paran0id, Feb 18, 2009
    #1
  2. whizzo

    whizzo Notebook Prophet

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    the Xfi 7.1 card is external. you plug into the expresscard slot. can't find the card on newegg though, they might've stopped production.
     
    whizzo, Feb 18, 2009
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  3. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi 7.1 Xtreme ExpressCard that xoticpc has/had is an external sound card and you can easily purchase them from ebay. You will actually need a Creative Surround Sound upgrade kit in order to play real 5.1/7.1 sound.
     
    David, Feb 18, 2009
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  4. Paran0id

    Paran0id Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ahh its external eh? I didn't know that >.< Would I receive any benefit then if I didn't buy the upgrade kit also?

    Mainly I'm looking to have better audio for gaming and movies, so having an external wouldn't be the end of the world, but if I DIDN'T purchase the upgrade kit, would I be noticing a significant loss in sound quality even if I use decent headphones?

    EDIT: I also just saw that I could purchase the Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook, which appears to only be stereo and may be better since I pretty much won't even be using a surround sound external speaker setup, but instead the laptops speakers or headphones of my own.
    LINK: http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=0&subcategory=&product=18205&nav=1

    I'm just looking for a nice upgraded sound card that will use EAX HD at the very least, would that be a smarter choice than searching for a 5.1 or 7.1 card?

    Thanks!!
     
    Paran0id, Feb 18, 2009
    #4