Hercules Fortissimo

[WobbleWobble]

What are the differences between the Hercules Fortissimo 2 and Fortissimo 3 7.1? And does anyone know how they compare against the Live, Santa Cruz and GameTheater?

I have an Asus A7V133 and don't want to get a Live because of the problems with the 686B southbridge.

I'm looking at these 2 Hecules cards because they are inexpensive and are available locally. I do not wish to buy on-line. Or if someone can point me to a local store in Vancouver, Canada that sells the Santa Cruz or Seismic Edge, that'd be great.

BTW, I have a 4.1 speaker setup.

Thanks.

 

[ctk1981]

Ive heard they are pretty much the same. The newer one has the additional jacks for 7.1 setup. I went ahead and bought a Fortissimo 3 7.1, still waiting for it to show up.

 

[Brian48]

Yeah, the Fortissimo 7.1 is basically the same card as the old Fortissimo II, only it has the additional outputs for more speakers. Sound quality wise, it's not a bad card, but I did notice that music (and games for that matter) sound slightly flatter than what I was getting with my Santa Cruz (and Herc GTXP before I got rid of it).

They all use Cirrus Logic chipsets, with the Fortissimo series using the CS4624 and the Santa Cruz/Herc GTXP using the higher end CS4630. I have heard that the new Herc GTXP is also using the stepped down CS4624 as well, but I haven't seen any confirmation yet.