Fortissimo Sound
Written: Jul 28 '03 (Updated Jul 29 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: High Quality - Low Price
Cons: Not 24 Bit
The Bottom Line: Excellent quality at a low price.
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| Bond008's Full Review: Guillemot Gamesurround Fortissimo III 7.1 Sound Ca... |
The Fortissimo is a quality sound card for a low price. I picked this up for a mere £30 at PC World, an absolute bargain.
This card is a 7.1 Surround card. There are not many competing in this market. What this means is true surround sound in games & quality sound in DVD playback. Imagine positional sound coming out of 8 speakers, fantastic.
There are outlets for a Subwoofer, Surround, Front, Back, microphone & Digital. All of these are colour coded for easy installation. The whole install took about 30 minutes.
As for quality the output is first rate. Crystal clear with plenty of volume. There is every type of software support, such as EAX 1 & 2, Direct Sound & more.
For the price there is nothing else that comes close. I spent several days researching on line to get the best bang for my buck.
One draw back is this is a 16 bit card. As such it cannot rival the output of the Audigy which is 24 bit. But then again when will you ever need 24 bits, only for DVD's. Also the Audigy is more than twice the price.
This has been Computer Shopper's best budget rated soundcard for quite a while.
Altogether a very good package with excellent supporting software. The Desktop interface is really easy to use with full functionality. I'd recommend this sound card to anyone on a tight budget.
Specifications ( Re Toms Hardware )
PCI 2.1 interface
Cirrus Logic CS4624 chipset
16-bit 44.1 kHz sound quality
4.1, 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 sound for games and DVD
96 hardware-managed DirectSound channels
CD in and Aux in internal inputs
Mike, Stereo Line in external inputs and MIDI/Game port on internal bracket
4 stereo analog outputs for 7.1 sound
Optical S/PDIF output
Sensaura 3D sound engine
Supports DS3D, EAX 1.0, 2.0, A3D 1.x, Sensaura Virtual Ear/Macro FX/Multidrive
52 hardware-managed DS3D channels
General Midi and Yamaha XG compatibility
8 MB Wavetable software
64 hardware-managed polyphony channels
Dolby Digital and DTS pass-through compatibility
DLS and DOS real-mode compatibility
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40
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Epinions.com ID:
Bond008
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Member: Paul Thomas
Location: Cardiff, Wales, U.K.
Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 24 members
About Me:
Married for 21 years to my lovely wife Elaine with 4 children & one granddaughter
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