There are also Hercules Digifire 7.1, Gametheater XP 7.1

[Kingofcomputer]

These two use same CS4624 as Gamesurround Fortissimo III 7.1.
For Hong Kong market.
here

 

[Brian48]

The Game Theater series uses the CS4630. Did they "downgrade" the system for the HK market?

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Don't know why,
there is still old Gametheater XP 6.1 for HK market.
May be Hercules wants to cut design cost, so all the new 7.1 cards use CS4624, share same design.

 

[nortexoid]

the digifire looks cool - but the name is brutal...seems like a rip off of the DMX 6-fire tho...

 

[Spicedaddy]

Originally posted by: Brian48
The Game Theater series uses the CS4630. Did they "downgrade" the system for the HK market?

The old GTXP uses CS4630 (same as Santa Cruz), while the newer model that says 7.1 on the box uses CS4624. They did this so they could use inified drivers for all their cards. They also said both the old and new GTXP support the exact same features.


BTW, these are not only for HK market, they're already out pretty much all over the world. 🙂

 

[Bovinicus]

Just because the version of the chip is lower doesn't necessarily mean that the sound ouput is any lower in terms of quality. There is only one way to find out; a blind listening test!

 

[Mem]

Hercules Fortissimo III 7.1 Sound Card review ,btw it does say ,

We talked to Hercules about the 'TRUE 7.1' question and their use of the 'older' CS4624 DSP to support 8-channel sound. They told us their R&D department was able to modify the CS4624 4-channel DSP to allow it to support more codecs and sound channels. With the necessary modified drivers, the Fortissimo III is now capable of producing genuine Dolby certified 7.1 8-channel sound through the 4-channel CS4624 chipset!

🙂

 

[Brian48]

Just because the version of the chip is lower doesn't necessarily mean that the sound ouput is any lower in terms of quality. There is only one way to find out; a blind listening test!

I've owned all three card before. Now this may be just a driver issue, but I've listened to the Fortisimmo II along side my Santa Cruz before. Overall sound reproduction with the F2 was good, but music playback was distinctly flatter sounding than that of the SC. When comparing the SC to my old Herc GTXP, there was no distinct difference that I could detect.

If they have stopped using the CS4630 for the Herc GTXP, then I'd stick to older versions unless I actually need 7.1 support (which is not likely any time soon). I think a better option, if unifying the drivers were a priority, would be to "upgrade" the F2 with the CS4630 instead of vice versa (like what Philips did with their Seismic and Rythmic Edges).

 

[Spicedaddy]

If they have stopped using the CS4630 for the Herc GTXP, then I'd stick to older versions unless I actually need 7.1 support (which is not likely any time soon).

The older GTXP has 7.1 if you use the new drivers... 🙂

 

[Utterman]

Originally posted by: Spicedaddy

If they have stopped using the CS4630 for the Herc GTXP, then I'd stick to older versions unless I actually need 7.1 support (which is not likely any time soon).

The older GTXP has 7.1 if you use the new drivers... 🙂

Yeah, the new box is mainly a marketing gimic to keep up with the Audigy 2