LightAssassin wrote on Mar 3, 2010, 03:51:
So from what I gather, you just plug in a HDMI cable with audio outputs also into the tv and it takes care of it all via the drivers?

On supported video cards. I believe the card had to be designed with audio on it. But im not positive on that.

Heres a thread I found right off of a google search discussing it.
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/399894

And an Nvidia forum post.
http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t86722.html

It sounds like if the card has a connector on it to go to the mobo, your gonna get audio off of it if you use the HDMI output and set your default audio to SPDIF

Edit: Well I just emailed Customer Service for BFG Tech. I asked them about not having a cable for the SPDIF from the vid card to the mobo in my package. Reason I asked was there page for my card says on it that it does audio through the vid card. They responded (really fast as well) asking for some typical info and they will mail me one. Mine is a GTX 275

So yeah, you need to have a card that has the SPDIF connector on it, with HDMI output on it (or the SPDIF out on it). Just gotta research your card is all. =D

This comment was edited on Mar 3, 2010, 15:41.

Pardon my complete ignorance on this matter (google doesn't appear to wanna help me, and the nvidia site is light on info).

I've got a Geforce GTX 275 with a HDMI output on it already (no need for these dvi adapters I read about). So from what I gather, you just plug in a HDMI cable with audio outputs also into the tv and it takes care of it all via the drivers? I know for videos it won't matter, but is there any performance hit for games?

With memory controllers going onto the cpu, and sound going into video cards, the inside of a computer is likely to look quite different to what it has. Guess it gives the mobo guys more room for extras (consider a gpu/sound chip and memory controller on the cpu). The mobo will be empty except for 2 chips and some ram heh.

I was wondering when audio would start getting integrated into the video cards once HDMI cable started becoming standard. Cool to see it starting to come about.

Hopefully soon with creative. Even my onboard Realtek has HDMI out and it's very nice, I can't really tell a difference between it and the onboard with my ATI.

Wow, that's pretty neat. When are we going to see the end of Creative and other similar audio only chip makers? Seems like they are skating on thin ice.

You're making a mistake if you're thinking of it as "merely" passing the sound through. Digital passthrough is exactly what you want if your receiver (or TV) can handle it.

With that said, it is a real audio driver. It can be made the default audio output device for windows.

So lets say you had some weird MB that had no sound chip, the GPU would have sound capability or is it merely passing the sound through? I haven't used my HDMI at all yet but have on my TV.

HDMI baby. Even my 4850 has HDMI audio out. Graphics drivers come with audio drivers these days. Times, they are a changin

HD Audio on the GPU? Never heard of it, no pun intended.