How does "Fast sync" fit into this* (*Low latency mode) ?
agent_x007 wrote on 2025-10-14, 19:46:How does "Fast sync" fit into this* (*Low latency mode) ?
No idea how those two work together, as I don't normally use Fast Sync. While I'm aware of its advantages, I don't like how it maxes out my GPU at 100% pretty much all the time.
For me personally, proper frame pacing is more important than having the lowest possible input lag. That's because I don't play competitive shooters, and I tend to use a controller more often than not. Maybe it's possible to achieve that with Fast Sync as well, not really sure. I haven't tested it a whole lot because of the aforementioned GPU utilization issue.
Fast sync was designed to always synchronize refresh rate of your monitor to latest frame that was rendered (combining "no tearing" of being Vsynced, with lowest possible input lag).
GPU utilization isn't an issue, because it's simply a byproduct of forcing GPU to render frames as fast as possible (to get the lowest possible input lag).
If you like to see less utilization (depending on circumstances), you can just limit your max. FPS to 120 or 90 (with 60/75Hz display).
agent_x007 wrote on 2025-10-14, 21:14:If you like to see less utilization (depending on circumstances), you can just limit your max. FPS to 120 or 90 (with 60/75Hz display).
I tried this on my Ryzen 7 + RTX 3060 rig, and it is indeed working nicely. Using Fast Sync, while also limiting FPS to a multiple of the display's refresh rate, does seem to yield good results. For this purpose, I ran an older game (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) at 1080p with Fast Sync on, while keeping Nvidia's frame limiter at 120 FPS (since my TV runs at 60Hz). The controls felt very responsive, there was no screen tearing, and I got a perfectly flat line on the frametime graph. Also, due to the FPS limit, GPU utilization was fairly low.
Unfortunately, many older games (DX:HR included) exhibit issues when running above 60 FPS. I could limit the frame rate to that value, but I'm not sure if/how that would be different from using normal V-Sync. In any case, this is certainly an interesting approach.
P.S.
I also tried using Fast Sync without setting an FPS limit, but that made the frametime graph pretty wobbly, in addition to increasing GPU utilization.
How do games sound with the X-FI card? If you have a 5.1 system- i see a logitech that you mention- is it noticeable better than with onboard realtek?
I have only 2.0 speakers and while in some games there is a difference with x-fi fatality pci in many games I do not hear something obviously different.
nd22 wrote on 2025-10-20, 07:35:How do games sound with the X-FI card? If you have a 5.1 system- i see a logitech that you mention- is it noticeable better than with onboard realtek?
Depends on the game. Basically, anything that has EAX 3.0 support (or higher) will sound better on an X-Fi, since on-board audio tops out at EAX 2.0. And for the best EAX experience, you want either surround speakers, or a decent pair of headphones. Plain stereo speakers cannot fully convey the positional audio enhancements that EAX provides. With headphones, the situation is much better, due to how HRTF works. And to be clear, I'm referring to normal stereo headphones, as long as they are of good quality. Just make sure to properly configure the card for that. Meaning, you want to enable "X-Fi CMSS-3D Headphone" in the Creative Console Launcher, like so:
This setup will give you more precise positional audio than stereo speakers. Also, make sure that your X-Fi is always in "Game Mode" because all the other modes have limited EAX support. And lastly, here are a few games that sound significantly better on an X-Fi, compared to Realtek on-board audio:
There are more of course, but these are just some of my personal favorites.
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-03-26, 19:24:So finally, I installed Windows 10 LTSC.
Turns out my old copy was just plain Win10 LTSC, and support for that ends in January of 2027. So I did an in-place upgrade to Win10 LTSC IoT, which is supported all the way until 2032.
That's good enough for me, since I plan to use this system for playing some older games that I still have on Steam and GOG. Of course, my physical game collection will be played under WinXP.
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-03-12, 17:39:Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-03-26, 19:24:So finally, I installed Windows 10 LTSC.
Turns out my old copy was just plain Win10 LTSC, and support for that ends in January of 2027. So I did an in-place upgrade to Win10 LTSC IoT, which is supported all the way until 2032.
Awesome, that's a huge time reserve!
It would be great to see your similar guide for Windows 10/X-Fi cards.
I suspect there are no fewer tricks there than on Windows XP.
ott wrote on 2026-03-14, 09:24:Awesome, that's a huge time reserve!
It would be great to see your similar guide for Windows 10/X-Fi cards.
I suspect there are no fewer tricks there than on Windows XP.
Well, it would be a pretty short guide. I just install DanielK's latest X-Fi support pack, followed by Creative's OpenAL and EAX Unified. That's pretty much it.
There was also some Win10 setting that you can adjust so that it doesn't automatically update your drivers, which may or may not need to be toggled. Don't remember exactly since I did that back when I first installed the OS.
@ Joseph_Joestar Offline
Your retro PC configuration (from 1st post) that can combine Windows XP, Windows 1o IoT LTSC and Linux is awesome. I haven't read all the posts (only your initial), but you could upgrade your 3570K for a 3770K, for about 30% multithreaded boost performance. I also think that your motherboard can take up to 32GB of DDR3 RAM, but OK there is no point.
Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 or Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 are the best Windows versions. I upgraded (literally) from Windows 11 24H2 Education to Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 and I'm very satisfied.
Next in my list is dual boot with a Linux distro (installed on a separate SSD, and with grub boot loader installed on this separate SSD, avoiding any troubles of messing with the Win11 IoT LTSC disk).
SB X-Fi support is great on Linux. Maybe at some point, I will also buy a used SB X-Fi Titanium series PCIE card, if I find it very very cheap.
Regards.
masterfaster wrote on 2026-03-14, 09:56:Your retro PC configuration (from 1st post) that can combine Windows XP, Windows 1o IoT LTSC and Linux is awesome. I haven't read all the posts (only your initial), but you could upgrade your 3570K for a 3770K, for about 30% multithreaded boost performance. I also think that your motherboard can take up to 32GB of DDR3 RAM, but OK there is no point.
Cheers! I did consider upgrading the CPU and RAM at one point, but decided against it since my use case is mostly WinXP era games, with a few excursions into the early Win7 years. Also, the 3770K still holds an unreasonably high price in my neck of the woods, and DDR3 costs have gone up a bit as well.
masterfaster wrote on 2026-03-14, 09:56:Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 or Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 are the best Windows versions. I upgraded (literally) from Windows 11 24H2 Education to Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 and I'm very satisfied.
Absolutely. I use Win11 LTSC IoT on my Ryzen 7 5700X rig and it works really well. It will be supported until 2034, so I'm good there too. Best of all, no ads and no AI slop, unless you manually install something that has that.
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-03-14, 09:53:Well, it would be a pretty short guide. I just install DanielK's latest X-Fi support pack, followed by Creative's OpenAL and EAX Unified. That's pretty much it.
I'm skeptical about unofficial drivers, but it looks like it's worth a try, thanks.
I thought X-Fi Fatal1ty Edition (PCI) worked perfectly on Windows 10 LTSC (1809) x64 with Windows Update drivers (OpenAL also installs automatically), until I got my first BSOD (ha20x2k.sys error) when launching the OpenAL Test utility, even without game running in background.
I couldn't reproduce BSOD, but I still have doubts about reliability of Creative drivers provided by Windows Update.
Windows Update driver:
Creative - Media - 4/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - 6.0.230.12
This is probably same latest X-Fi PCI driver from Creative site (SBXF_PCDRV_L11_2_30_0012.exe)
I'll also try installing Windows 10 LTSB (1607) x64 and experimenting with old X-Fi drivers to find stable system. Steam should still work.
