Gamesurround Fortissimo� III 7.1

[(v)aVerick]

EVEN ONE REVIEW! I almost think the card doesn't exsist because of this.

Does anyone have the sounnd card? Heard anything about it? Know of any reviews?

[saidin]

never heard of it... is 7.1 worth it yet, are there even 7.1 speakers for the computer available?

[Beefy]

I'll agree with that. But, considering there has only recently been a press release, you can't expect to see the product out and about yet. I doubt that even those online stores have the product in stock.

[(v)aVerick]

Well, I didn't say the online stores were North American :P But Compusa (http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...ct_code=296131) and Compusmart (http://www.compusmart.com/product.as...nt=Peripherals|Sound+Cards&VisitID=77578JD0uY94TJKte7lyt352u3952 722) both carry it "locally."

The reason why I want it is that the Fortissimo II was quite good and I figured the latest and greatest version of it would be better. Having been unable to discover a online review, I'm not sure if that is in fact the case.

[saidin]

yes, even if ou were to get a 7.1 card, are there any 7.1 speakers you could use with it. All I know of are 5.1 and 6.1 speakers. So, I would stick with the SB...at least until some decent speakers came out that could utilize the 7.1 feature on the newer card!!! But that is just me

[(v)aVerick]

I only have 4.1 speakers since that's all I need. 7.1 means very little to me since I would never use it, nor do I use 5.1 on my SB. There are other qualities of the Fortissimo (sound quality, lower CPU hit, stable drivers) which I like. I'm currently sick of my SB and the amount of problems it causes (drivers, drivers and drivers.) I've lost almost all faith in Creative to produce anything other then crap and I'm sure as hell jumping off the band wagon.

[saidin]

hmmm, i have never had any problem with my SB live . . and hit on the CPU, never see it. I mean the card has its own processor which takes away from the CPU doing the math. Isnt that the point of hardware sound over software sound. I could understand if you were having CPU problems with a software driven sound card! Maybe i am wrong and the SB is software driven?!?! Even when I had my SB live in my P3 -350 machine I had no cpu hit with the SBLive! Plus, sound is such a LOW priority! If it is taking a huge hit in your system, then maybe you should upgrade the other parts in your computer over the sound card.

the driver problem you are talking about, well I do not seee. I have never had one problem with my SB live, SB64, SB16, etc. When i got a beta copy of 2k, i never had problem with the soundcard, hehe even in NT4.0 I did not have a problem.

The quality in the soundcard I think is fine....but I think this is more of a personal preference than anything else...the human ear can only hear so much! :lips:

[(v)aVerick]

IMO, people give Creative to much credit. There are a lot of people out there saying how great their SBLive is or Audigy but I doubt many of them have tried alternatives from Philips or Hercules. I plan on upgrading to a new level of speakers where audio quaility of a sound card can play a big part. If you can't tell the difference between 128 bit and 196 bit music well then don't be concerned about your speakers/sound card ;)

As for the performance hit, becareful what you say if your not sure ;) Example: http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2.../index.x?pg=10

Everyone runs a different setup and just because a certain product works for you does not mean it works for everyone. I'm not the first nor am I the last to have problems with a Creative product. I've had to reformat my computer several times due to Creative's shotty job on drivers and I don't plan on playing with it anymore. For under a 100 Canadian I can get a new sound card up to or better then the par set by any SB Live card. Even with the Audigy 2 around the corner I don't plan on waiting. Over $200 for a sound card is wrong.

[saidin]

Wow, reformatting to get a soundcard to work. Were you installing the SB16 on linux Redhat 5.3, or a SB live on a win32 machine? If the version of linux, then I could possibly understand, but windows...cone on ;). There is this thing called safe mode in windows, where you can uninstall drivers and not have to completely format your drive.

About the article, maybe you should have read your own source. Seems to me that they liked the Sound Blaster Audigy, actually was one of the two the picked for the top, a creative card. On the other had, they did not pick the hercules. And they cleary point out, through the graphs, that the SB does not cause a preformance HIT. . . if you consider 77(SB live) FPS vs. 77.9 (Fortissmo) then maybe you should go with the no sound; it had 111.3 FPS. I mean come on, a performance hit is something like it takes away from 20% of the performance of the machine...not .001%

You are correct $200 for a soundcard is rediculous, but a sound blaster live is only $17 and the audigy is $60. Clearly these prices are not $200, now if you want the platinum (which comes with a bay that has stereo, firewire, optical, etc plugs) then you will have to shell out more...but you get more.

If you are so concerned with the quality of music...you should not be listening to compress music files (mp3, ogg)...why, b/c compression kills the quality of music.


: peace:

[(v)aVerick]

My problems with my sound card could quite possibly be the issues with a "recall" on my mobo, Gigabyte 7VRXP v1.1 (which is being replaced as I type.)

www.vr-zpne.com:

The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 has an estimated street price of US9.99; and the Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum 2 has an estimated street price of US9.99. Both products are slated for worldwide shipment in October.

Your quoted prices are OEM's and not retail.

That roundup was with a Fortissimo II, not III. Obviously if it was version III I wouldn't say

I haven't found EVEN ONE REVIEW!

and this thread probably wouldn't be here.

However a performance hit is a performance hit, regardless. All those sound cards in that review can be looked upon as being the of the older generation as new cards such as the Fortissimo and Audigy have new cards on.coming to the market. Therefore, the performance hit between them and an old card could (and most likely will) be larger.

[(v)aVerick]

GOT ONE!

http://www.hardwareinfo.net/reviews.php?id=330

I haven't tried to translate it yet . . .

[Mr.Tweak]

The product is still very new. We have a sample coming from Herucles Australia, review will be up in roughly 2 weeks.

[(v)aVerick]

Really? Sounds great!

It's going to be another 2 weeks before I get my good comp up and running so that will be perfect.

The Audigy 2 card looks like it will turn heads but price wise the Fortissimo line has always been able to beat Creative. My friend keeps telling me to wait for VIA's sound card but he's the same one that told me to buy a 955DF and that monitor has been gone for repairs for the thrid time now . . . but I think the image quality problem I have with it is in all 19" Samsungs . . ..

[RobTodd]

Any word on that Fortissimo III review? ;)

[FLaCo]

My audigy gives me slight problems....meaning next time i am gonna give another card a try... possibly a Hecules