Building a computer? Need advice/suggestions? Come here!

[Amit]

I was looking around and apparently ATI 5 series cards can do something with Dolby True HD or something through their HDMI, so does that make it a sound card or does it still use the integrated decoder?

I'm not exactly sure, but I know it's not a sound card in itself. I use the integrated sound in my motherboard and I'm required to download a HDMI driver for the ATi card from the manufacturer of the sound device. So, my guess is that you still need a different sound device to output audio through HDMI.

[InnerGoat]

It's just a pass-through iirc.

[flibitijibibo]

It requires a separate sound device, it just has the ability to output that device's data using HDMI.

[Cortexian]

InnerGoat's right it's just a pass-through system. You connect an additional cable to your graphics card and then to the SPDIF out on your motherboard or sound card, then you just choose your SPDIF Interface as the primary output/playback device in the Sound menu.

One of my GTX 285's is setup to output audio through HDMI this way.

[Bhamid]

So exactly the same as the Nvidia system? I can't find anything about Nvidia pushing its Dolby stuff, unless it doesn't support that (yet)?

[Cortexian]

Not sure if it's exactly the same, but it should be very similar.

[flibitijibibo]

I can't imagine it being different in terms of the SPDIF connection. They might have just referred to the usual pass-through, but decorated it with things that audio cards will really be doing. As far as I know, whatever your sound card is capable of, the graphics card's pass-through will send it through HDMI.

In terms of DD TrueHD specifically, I think the Auzentech Home Theater is the only one that supports it. Of course, like Creative's newer cards with decoding, that will require PowerDVD...

[Bhamid]

Directly tied to the UVD engine is obviously also sound. AMD's Radeon series 3000, 4000 and 5000 cards can pass lossless sound directly through the HDMI connector. This has been upgraded as it's now possible to have 7.1 channel lossless sound 192kHz / 24-bit. The HDMI audio output follows HDMI standard 1.3a and now also supports Dolby True HD and DTS-HD audio. Obviously there is also support for standard PCM, AC-3 and DTS.

Thats what they say, still dunno if that requires a 7.1 capable sound card or not...

[Amit]

In order to send out a 7.1 signal you need a 7.1 capable sound card.

[ultama121]

Well I'm designing a pc for a friend and I wanted to know what you guys thought of it. Here are the specs.

Newegg.com - XCLIO Godspeed One Advanced Fully Black Finish 0.5 mm SECC / ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Newegg.com - ASUS P5QPL-AM LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 Wolfdale 3.06GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5S-1GBPK - Desktop Memory (x4)
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - POWERCOLOR AX5770 512MD5-H Radeon HD 5770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer - CD / DVD Burners
Newegg.com - KINGWIN ABT-730MM 730W ATX 12V Ver.2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies