So I have my HTPC components all here minus my case. I am using an ASRock 880 mobo with the typical realtek built-in sound. Is there any need for a add-on soundcard to play 5.1 movies?
I assume that if I plan to use the HTPC for decent gaming (got a Radeon 6870 GPU) I would want to upgrade the sound
Thanks all.
OS?
Under linux what does lspci show?
It looks like has a coax spdif out, it should work just fine.
ghart999 Wrote:Under Win7
Your sound is out from your HDMI cable from your GPU
Oh yeah. So in that case in order to get sound to my audio system, it would need to have HDMI switching right? Or can I still use the optical out from my soundcard?
ghart999 Wrote:Oh yeah. So in that case in order to get sound to my audio system, it would need to have HDMI switching right? Or can I still use the optical out from my soundcard?
Ummm
All i know the HDMI cable goes to your receiver and outputs the sound!
What type of receiver you have?
Well my receiver does not have HDMI input, hence my dilema. So I want to be sure I can go HDMI 1.4 to my display and then go optical out from my soundcard to my receiver.
Assuming I can, would an add-on soundcard give me better sound for movies and/or vid games?
ghart999 Wrote:Well my receiver does not have HDMI input, hence my dilema. So I want to be sure I can go HDMI 1.4 to my display and then go optical out from my soundcard to my receiver.
Assuming I can, would an add-on soundcard give me better sound for movies and/or vid games?
yes you can choose which output you would like to use, so if your mobo has a SPDIF out use that, if not, buy a cheap sound card that does and use that. Assuming your receiver has optical input.
ghart999 Wrote:Well my receiver does not have HDMI input, hence my dilema. So I want to be sure I can go HDMI 1.4 to my display and then go optical out from my soundcard to my receiver.
Assuming I can, would an add-on soundcard give me better sound for movies and/or vid games?
Yes you can!
You will be fine with out a sound card.....
This is how mine is...
I also don't have HDMI in my receiver so.....
GPU HDMI to TV
TV RCA cables to Receiver....
Tweak my bass and treble....
I have great sound.....
lrusak Wrote:yes you can choose which output you would like to use, so if your mobo has a SPDIF out use that, if not, buy a cheap sound card that does and use that. Assuming your receiver has optical input.
OK. That's what I was hoping for.
Now back to the original question, is there any benefit to using an aftermarket card over the built-in sound on my mobo, which has SPDIF?
ghart999 Wrote:OK. That's what I was hoping for.
Now back to the original question, is there any benefit to using an aftermarket card over the built-in sound on my mobo, which has SPDIF?
unless your onboard sound doesn't support DTS/Dolby/etc, you wouldn't notice a difference.
OK. That makes sense. I guess DTS is DTS, etc.
lrusak Wrote:unless your onboard sound doesn't support DTS/Dolby/etc, you wouldn't notice a difference.
Well I have not bothered with with anything else until I get my self a nice receiver...
And now that everyone is rich and can buy receivers that support HDMI....
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Digital is digital. XBMC passes the bits straight to the sound card and those bits go straight to the receiver. It works just fine for my setup (but I'm on linux).