Cheap 7.1 (or even 5.1) card for SP/DIF to hold me over till i find compat. mobo?

E

efishta

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Messages
184
In my HTPC I've got a mATX motherboard with the ATI xpres 200 chipset which apparently is not compatible with HDMI audio through the video card (a new Radeon 4670) so to hold me over till I can find another 939 mATX board to replace the current one with, I'm looking for a cheapie audio card that will allow for SP/DIF in 5.1 or 7.1 (only 5.1 setup at the moment and probably for while).

A quick second questions - if I select SPDIF as the output instead of analog, do all the sounds go through it to my receiver, or is it only certain types of audio that go to it. As in, mp3s, CDs, too, or just DD or DTS sound from movies, or games?
 
AFAIK, S/PDIF is a direct stream of data to the decoder. A pass-through if you will. You can set most drivers to output all your regular and digital output through s/pdif so your basic windows sounds/mp3's/etc will all go through s/pdif. Most receivers will play those sounds in stereo or whatever "effect" you choose and then automatically switch to dolby/dts when that type of data is being played.
 
Uh, you've got a 4670 which has an audio chip integrated into it which has nothing to do with your onboard audio or it's chipset (unless the chipset is entirely freakish).

If you can do HDMI audio then theres nothing stopping you.
 
Yeah the chipset is freakish - ATI xpress 200 is not compatible with the HDMI audio part of the HD series of ATI cards. Card works fine otherwise, acceleration, gaming and all, just no audio. There was another mention of some other guy on the avsforums.com board that had trouble with his 4350 and HDMI audio.

When i say no audio, i mean there is nothing I can do to get the ATI hdmi audio device to show up in device manager, in a 2 week old sp3 installation of XP.

EDIT:

Instead of a sound card, I'm looking at replacing the motherboard with an NF4K8MC-RS matx 939 board. Nforce 4 chipset, and probably more stable than this POS motherboard and chipset. Only 35 bucks too. THat way I keep everythin else and the audio through HDMI should work.
 
Well, by next week I'll have completed my HTPC upgrade which means I'll have a Chaintech AV710 sitting around. PM me if interested.
 
OP you could have gone a different route, instead of trying to spruce up an aged 939 system, you could have taken that same cash and built up an AM2+ rig. You could still do it now as a matter of fact.

Sell the 939 processor, mobo and ram separately on ebay, if it's a dual core 939 CPU you'll get a boatload of cash for it. The mobo will get you another $40 and the ram another $15-$25. You can fund your new rig with the proceeds.

45w dual core AM2+ cpu for $29: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1387958

An AM2+ motherboard for between $40-$80, keep an eye on the upgrade path (Phenom II compatability?)

2 gigs DDR2-800 ram ~ $20: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
 
SJetski71 said:
OP you could have gone a different route, instead of trying to spruce up an aged 939 system, you could have taken that same cash and built up an AM2+ rig. You could still do it now as a matter of fact.

Sell the 939 processor, mobo and ram separately on ebay, if it's a dual core 939 CPU you'll get a boatload of cash for it. The mobo will get you another $40 and the ram another $15-$25. You can fund your new rig with the proceeds.

45w dual core AM2+ cpu for $29: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1387958

An AM2+ motherboard for between $40-$80, keep an eye on the upgrade path (Phenom II compatability?)

2 gigs DDR2-800 ram ~ $20: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
Click to expand...


uhhhh. 939 is still a perfectly viable and capable platform still. i just changed my 939 stuff out 3 weeks ago!
 
I don't understand how the chipset of the motherboard could be causing problems with the audio from the video card? Are you sure it's not something to do with the drivers? I've heard that HDMI audio drivers can be a little finicky sometimes.
 
Haste266 said:
uhhhh. 939 is still a perfectly viable and capable platform still. i just changed my 939 stuff out 3 weeks ago!
Click to expand...

for an htpc that plays dvd and xvid, ya maybe, but for anthing more recent, not so much (more so gaming or HD content, pending on video card of course)


weird the HDMI wont work..

does your mobo not have an S/PDIF out on it?
 
htpc_user said:
I don't understand how the chipset of the motherboard could be causing problems with the audio from the video card? Are you sure it's not something to do with the drivers? I've heard that HDMI audio drivers can be a little finicky sometimes.
Click to expand...

I agree. The onboard should not be interfering with the ATI 4670 card you have. Just make sure that HDMI is set as default in the sound properties. I just put windows 7 on my HTPC and I didn't even have to do that. Was all setup by default.

Disable the onboard video in the bios if you can.

With that video card you don't need to change out any other hardware at all. That will handle your HD video and audio
 
Haste266 said:
uhhhh. 939 is still a perfectly viable and capable platform still. i just changed my 939 stuff out 3 weeks ago!
Click to expand...
Uhhh 939 may be viable, but his 939 isn't viable for his use. If he's gonna go through the trouble of spending cash and swapping mobo's then a true upgrade becomes a more attractive option.

Lateral upgrade vs true upgrade with a viable upgrade path, for the same amount of cash no less.

Perhaps while you were busy trying to shoot down my idea, you forgot to post your own bright idea.
 
SJetski71 said:
Uhhh 939 may be viable, but his 939 isn't viable for his use. If he's gonna go through the trouble of spending cash and swapping mobo's then a true upgrade becomes a more attractive option.

Lateral upgrade vs true upgrade with a viable upgrade path, for the same amount of cash no less.

Perhaps while you were busy trying to shoot down my idea, you forgot to post your own bright idea.
Click to expand...

Which is also what I was think when he wanted a sound card and then he's going to upgrade from his (POS) mobo to something decent.

Fuck, just get that $30 AM2 CPU and then sell the rest of the s939 stuff and get a 8200 mobo. Also, DDR2 memory is $20 for 2 gigs which is perfect for an HTPC.
 
This is what I've ultimately decided -- I'm going to forget about the sound card and just switch out the motherboard. I found a $35 939 mATX board at geeks.com and a few other vendors. A foxconn one based on the nf4 chipset. Since I don't want to switch everything out and buy everything anew, as it stands, the $35 upgrade path is the best since I want to keep the HTPC for gaming too (so the 8200 chipset is out of the question) and I can keep all existing components, along with the 4670, which is find for light gaming and most 2007 (and some 2008) and earlier games.

Once i upgrade my current X2 PC, then the dual core CPU goes in the HTPC (currently single core) so that's the CPU upgrade path that ultimately awaits the HTPC.

This way, instead of speding 15-25 bucks for a cheap audio card for SP/DIF, the motherboard already includes that and on top of that, the 4670 will also work with LCPM audio, so it'll be even better.
 
SJetski71 said:
Uhhh 939 may be viable, but his 939 isn't viable for his use. If he's gonna go through the trouble of spending cash and swapping mobo's then a true upgrade becomes a more attractive option.

Lateral upgrade vs true upgrade with a viable upgrade path, for the same amount of cash no less.

Perhaps while you were busy trying to shoot down my idea, you forgot to post your own bright idea.
Click to expand...


uhhhhh, why should one upgrade when its not needed? your post didnt even have ANYTHING to do with the OPs topic...

\
 
Haste266 said:
uhhhhh, why should one upgrade when its not needed? your post didnt even have ANYTHING to do with the OPs topic...

\
Click to expand...
Has plenty to do with the OP's topic bud, It's pretty obvious the OP was exploring different options. He is upgrading, laterally.

Do you often jump into threads to nuke ideas and not offer your own advice? You still haven't offered any btw, but that's ok since the OP has already made up his mind, with no help from you.

If my ideas trouble you so much then maybe you should put me on your ignore list ;)
 
SJetski71 said:
OP you could have gone a different route, instead of trying to spruce up an aged 939 system, you could have taken that same cash and built up an AM2+ rig. You could still do it now as a matter of fact.

Sell the 939 processor, mobo and ram separately on ebay, if it's a dual core 939 CPU you'll get a boatload of cash for it. The mobo will get you another $40 and the ram another $15-$25. You can fund your new rig with the proceeds.

45w dual core AM2+ cpu for $29: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1387958

An AM2+ motherboard for between $40-$80, keep an eye on the upgrade path (Phenom II compatability?)

2 gigs DDR2-800 ram ~ $20: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
Click to expand...

^ yep, that is right in line with the OPs original question... :rolleyes:


SJetski71 said:
Uhhh 939 may be viable, but his 939 isn't viable for his use. If he's gonna go through the trouble of spending cash and swapping mobo's then a true upgrade becomes a more attractive option.

Lateral upgrade vs true upgrade with a viable upgrade path, for the same amount of cash no less.

Perhaps while you were busy trying to shoot down my idea, you forgot to post your own bright idea.
Click to expand...

i was letting the op know an upgrade is not needed since his system is still perfectly fine (even playing HD content).

SJetski71 said:
Has plenty to do with the OP's topic bud, It's pretty obvious the OP was exploring different options. He is upgrading, laterally.

Do you often jump into threads to nuke ideas and not offer your own advice? You still haven't offered any btw, but that's ok since the OP has already made up his mind, with no help from you.

If my ideas trouble you so much then maybe you should put me on your ignore list ;)
Click to expand...

whoa there guy. ignore you for disagreeing with something you said? that would be lame...

i have yet to ignore anyone on this forum.
 
s939 is only viable if you have the parts sitting around. There's absolutely no reason to spend money on s939 hardware because it has zero upgrade potential.
 
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