X-Fi Extreme Audio finally seems to be coming with the PCI Express interface, but as previous rumors have said, it is just an OEM card. This means that the card will not be available to us regular consumers, at least not to begin with. At the same time, it is getting clearer and clearer that Creative has been holding back during the development of its new OEM card. Except from some budget-based components it has also used a blue PCB, which is different from the black one regular X-Fi cards have.
“It looks rather basic with support for 7.1-channel analogue outputs and optical S/PDIF in and out. This card doesn’t seem to have support for any of the upgrade options that the current X-Fi cards have and the audio processor looks like it comes from the newer entry level cards.”
Exactly what kind of features there will be remains to be seen, but the price will be 65 USD with Windows Vista drivers is pretty competitive. All we have to do now is sit back and wait for Creative to actually launch its first retail card with the PCIe interface.
