Warp2Search.net » News » January 2005 » Does Hercules' Fortissimo 4 Deliver at 24 Bits?

While 24 bit capabilities are becoming standard fare in mid-tier sound cards, not all vendors make the jump from 16 bits on equal footing. Our tests show whether or not Hercules' 24 bit Fortissimo 4 sinks or swims against other cards for less than $100.

Tom's Hardware Guide

Domingo Unregistered

#59198 Posted on: 01/27/2005 07:34 PM Considering that you can get an Audigy 2 ZS for the same price or just a tiny bit more, I see no reason to get this card. Admittedly I used to hate Creative, but the ZS card is the best thing going for the end-consumer gaming market. Performance, price, quality...even the driver bloat is gone. I love the idea of competition (Nvidia...*cough*), but this card simply isn't as good.

thomas997 Junior Member Posts: 12 Joined: 2003-04-21

#59199 Posted on: 01/27/2005 08:19 PM Yeah theres just too much of an FPS drop in those games... Nvidia usually does quite well with cpu usage.

Veky Junior Member Posts: 6 Joined: 2003-01-01

#59204 Posted on: 01/28/2005 01:41 AM I recently bought an Audigy 2 ZS and I'm pleased with it. The drivers are not bloaty at all. You choose what you wish to install. Nothing has to be run at startup, the applications work great.

Domingo Unregistered

#59205 Posted on: 01/28/2005 01:50 AM Exactly. Compared to the Live (UGH!) and even the Audigy 1, the ZS cards are amazing. The drivers can be minimalized with no effort, the performance is great, and quality is good, too. The Audigy 2 ZS is the best sound card since the original Aureal cards. I *HATED* the last 3 or 4 Creative cards, but this one is a winner. Until something better comes along that's at least comparable, it's all I need. BTW - anyone else notice Creative is selling more "pro" cards? I was in CompUSA and saw some Creative professional cards in white boxes (that I've never seen any promotion for) that were in the $300-500 neighborhood. I'd guess that's the only other real new direction for them to go, other than simply giving the current cards more juice to take CPU usage down some more.

sodapop Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: 2003-08-10

#59207 Posted on: 01/28/2005 03:12 AM Great news! Now I can put my Fortissimo 2 in the closet as a backup and use this new one. I LOVE Hercules' cards and Creative can kiss my white a$$. Period.

Sardaukary Unregistered

#59208 Posted on: 01/28/2005 11:15 AM I had a Fortissimo 3 and discovered a bug where the graphic equaliser settings are ignored by Direct 3D sound. I filled in a very detailed bug report for them including Dxdiag results and never heard anything. They also haven’t updated the drivers for almost 2 years.

Warp2Search.net » News » January 2005 » Does Hercules' Fortissimo 4 Deliver at 24 Bits?