Need major help... Lane issues won't let me install sound card.

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M0710NM4N

Weaksauce
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Jun 22, 2011
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Most of new build parts are here and the rest will be here within a week or so. After some reading last night I ended up speaking with someone from ASUS who told me I won't be able to use my sound card, because anything put in PCIE slot #2... will turn GPU #1 to X8.

Like I honestly don't understand. How is it that something as simple as a sound card in 2024 can't be used? Anyway... I was looking around trying to find other options and the best I could figure out, was to use a DAC... but couldn't find any quality ones that would work with a 5.1 surround system. I can't wear headsets as they make my ears break out... some kind of weird allergic reaction.

Any help would be BEYOND grateful at this point. Nothing worse than building a $4k+ build and before ya even start putting it together, you're super bummed.
 
Lanes aren't very flexible anymore, but not a ton of people are putting in anything more than one gpu and one nvme storage, so it kind of is what it is there. If you told us about your system, we could maybe help, but whatevs. If your only option is putting your sound card in a slot that cuts your gpu down to x8, you probably don't want that even if the video perf difference is small.

What inputs are on your surround sound? Is it a receiver, or an old three jack PC system? Have you looked at USB sound cards, they come in a lot of varieties.
 
5.1 sound needs a card.

11.2.4.1 sound just needs a HDMI cable.

You seem like a big monitor kinda guy.
Buy a TV and a fitting surround system (soundbar+)

And put your card next to mine - which ought to be in a museum
 
What soundcard, what mainboard?

A $20 7.1 USB soundcard works just fine.
 
toast0 said:
Lanes aren't very flexible anymore, but not a ton of people are putting in anything more than one gpu and one nvme storage, so it kind of is what it is there. If you told us about your system, we could maybe help, but whatevs. If your only option is putting your sound card in a slot that cuts your gpu down to x8, you probably don't want that even if the video perf difference is small.

What inputs are on your surround sound? Is it a receiver, or an old three jack PC system? Have you looked at USB sound cards, they come in a lot of varieties.
Click to expand...

My fault for not mentioning I have the X870E Crosshair Hero. So damn frustrated. And my sound card is the Sound Blaster AE-7.

Surround system is a Logitech Z906. Has a few connections... 6-channel direct for sound card (front, rear & center/sub), 2x digital optical and 1x digital coaxial.

I looked into USB DACs and may end up with the Sound Blaster X4. Currently waiting on a reply to my escalated support ticket on ASUS, to confirm if infact installing a sound card in PCIe slot #2, will make PCIe slot #1 run at X8. I can understand if I was running 2 GPU's... but not a sound card which if not mistaken, only runs at X1.
 
Carlyle2020 said:
5.1 sound needs a card.

11.2.4.1 sound just needs a HDMI cable.

You seem like a big monitor kinda guy.
Buy a TV and a fitting surround system (soundbar+)

And put your card next to mine - which ought to be in a museum
Click to expand...
LoL in a museum... but I love my sound card. And I don't know about big monitor guy, it's only a 32". And I just got this 5.1 Z906 system not long ago, so not ready to dish out more $ for another sound system. Just looking for a simple fix to what seems to be an over complicated issue.
 
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Can't you just use the optical out from the motherboard? No need to waste resources on a sound card.
 
grifter_66 said:
Can't you just use the optical out from the motherboard? No need to waste resources on a sound card.
Click to expand...
The X870E Crosshair does have the optical out, but assumed it wouldn't handle 5.1 since the other connection is just a single line-out plug. I hate to put this all together, just to find out it doesn't work as I hoped and have to disassemble and box it up to return or jump through more hoops just to get 5.1

If I didn't have this stupid issue with my ears and using a headset... this wouldn't be so much of a problem. At this point, I'm praying my escalated ASUS ticket will get a reply that I can install the sound card without issue, or maybe some workaround. Not gonna hold my breath on that though. If all else fails... I can resort to buying the Sound Blaster X4 usb DAC and hope it has good sound, as it does support up to 7.1 surround. Though even that has me scratching my head... they have an X5... but it only supports stereo. SMH
 
Hm.

I see the problem. You bought a board with onlu the 2x pseudo x16 PCIe slots but you want to run a PCIe card. That doesn't fit.
 
M0710NM4N said:
The X870E Crosshair does have the optical out, but assumed it wouldn't handle 5.1 since the other connection is just a single line-out plug. I hate to put this all together, just to find out it doesn't work as I hoped and have to disassemble and box it up to return or jump through more hoops just to get 5.1

If I didn't have this stupid issue with my ears and using a headset... this wouldn't be so much of a problem. At this point, I'm praying my escalated ASUS ticket will get a reply that I can install the sound card without issue, or maybe some workaround. Not gonna hold my breath on that though. If all else fails... I can resort to buying the Sound Blaster X4 usb DAC and hope it has good sound, as it does support up to 7.1 surround. Though even that has me scratching my head... they have an X5... but it only supports stereo. SMH
Click to expand...

Are you sure the soundblaster stuff is worth the money over a generic usb device?

The optical out will do 5.1, but not uncompressed PCM.
 
uOpt said:
Hm.

I see the problem. You bought a board with onlu the 2x pseudo x16 PCIe slots but you want to run a PCIe card. That doesn't fit.
Click to expand...
What can I say... I'm 57 and only built a single Intel system 17 yrs ago. I didn't realize PC tech would be going backwards and over complicating things.
 
uOpt said:
Are you sure the soundblaster stuff is worth the money over a generic usb device?

The optical out will do 5.1, but not uncompressed PCM.
Click to expand...
I'm seriously OCD and I'm just use to always using Sound Blaster and it's never failed me. I have that mentality that more $ = better, though I guess I need to try and rethink that, since spending $700 on a mobo and it's already giving me a headache before even putting it together. LOL!

Not sure what ya mean by... uncompressed PCM? I'm not the most tech savvy person. One single system built 17 yrs ago and only through a lot of help from this site back then.
 
M0710NM4N said:
I'm seriously OCD and I'm just use to always using Sound Blaster and it's never failed me. I have that mentality that more $ = better, though I guess I need to try and rethink that, since spending $700 on a mobo and it's already giving me a headache before even putting it together. LOL!

Not sure what ya mean by... uncompressed PCM? I'm not the most tech savvy person. One single system built 17 yrs ago and only through a lot of help from this site back then.
Click to expand...
Tech isn't moving backwards, Sound cards just haven't moved forward in 20 years are dated and unnecessary tech in most cases... unless it has a built in DAC for headphones. The optical out will work just fine for simple 5.1 audio. If you want to keep up with and use modern audio processing you'll need a receiver and separate speakers (speakers that don't require a proprietary power source) in which case you would just use a single HDMI cable.
 
Ya it's kinda pathetic how pcie lanes are split even on expensive hardware. In the past there was an excess and you would almost never run into issues splitting up lanes. Give your bios a check to see if there is any other way to split lanes. Gpu should get 16 and main pcie drives should get 4. Everything else can get by with less.

Honestly the best solution is going to be a usb dac. You can often get better sound out of them then even a dedicated sound card will provide, lots of good options in that space.
 
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it looks like it should be fine to me. have you even tried it?

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So I think your options are a) suck it up and use the second slot and your main slot is x8. b) use the motherboard analog out for 5.1 (will need to use the front ports and the back port) c) use the motherboard digital out --- 5.1 will be dts or dolby digital. d) get creative...

You can take a chipset m.2 slot and adapt that to a pciE riser... or probably the chipset SlimSAS port too.
 
Here is what I would do:

Assemble thingie without the soundcard. Benchmark. Write down how fast it is for whatever you want to do.

Stuff in the soundcard, downgrading the GPU to 8x. Benchmark again. Judge whether the slowdown is acceptable.
 
M0710NM4N said:
No I haven't. Waiting to hear back from my ASUS escalated support ticket to see what they have to say.
Click to expand...

There isn't a possible solution for this unless the mainboard does 12+4 lane bifurcation (practically out of the question for that board).
 
Again, just use the optical out on the motherboard. You'll get DD5.1 or DTS which are both more than good enough for your speakers. A single cable remedies this entire situation and, at worst, there will be no noticeable difference between that and using the card's analog inputs. Games mixed with DD may even sound better.
 
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