SPDIF question

[icthus13]

Ok, so my current HTPC setup is this:

Athlon XP 2500
NF7-S (mmmm, Soundstorm)
Receiver --> 5.1 speakers
etc.

Obviously, I use the optical out on the board and everything has worked great for me.

Now, my question is this: I want to get a little more speed into this system. I have a MSI K8N Neo platinum board and processor laying around spare that I would love to use for this system.

Now, the K8N also has optical out onboard. Would I suffer any ill effects by going to this board rather than keeping my Soundstorm??

 

[IanG]

It depends. If you only watch movies/TV on the machine, the new board will be just fine. It'll pass 5.1 digital sound from dvds and 2-channel from analog sources and will sound just like your existing setup.

If you play games, you won't be able to get surround sound out using optical like you currently can, you'll only get stereo. You'd have to use the separate analog connectors to your receiver, or one of the few sound cards that can do dolby digital real-time encoding.

 

[icthus13]

Ok, thanks. This is not a gaming machine, so I guess the new board is a go!