Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW.

turdhat · 08-26-10, 02:35 PM

I dont know how many of you have tried this but using the HDMI out on the 480 in to my hdmi receiver gives me bit perfect sound and surround as well with no sound card needed. SOunds awesome and WAY better than my old x-fi. I have not tried older games with it but every game I have tried has full surround support even if it is done in software. After benchmarking I see NO difference when the GPU is passing audio and even MSI gpu usage meter shows ZERO when I listen to audiophile level music in 5.1 at 96k/24-bit like the DVD audio of hotel califonia which is WAY more audio intensive that standard game sound. I saw a whooping 1-2% cpu utilization when playing back the most intensive audio files.

If you are a music lover and want pure sound without windows touching the audio use the HDMI out to your receiver and use foobar with the wasapi plugin. This allows the hdmi out to communicate directly with my harmon kardon AVR NO DRIVERS NEEDED.

The display on my harmon kardon changes depending on what game I play and what source material I listen to. Everything plays back in the bit rate it is encoded in with no issues at all. IF a game uses DTS for sound the receiver kicks in to DTS mode for instance. I have never heard better sound out of windows.

JUst FYI..

BTW, There is little or no info about this out on the web. At least I cant find any. You get no EQ for your games but really you should need one. I am one of those "I want to hear is as it was intended to be heard" so I dont use eq very much at all unless it is a crappy audio bootleg. Eq' ing of music can be done using Foobar with the wasapi plugin.

pkirby11 · 08-26-10, 08:53 PM

Hell yeah this is FTW! I've been doing HDMI on my reciever with my GTX460 since I found out that my optical SPDIF couldn't do surround sound for Starcraft 2. Now that game and every other game I play sounds awesome, and your right there isn't much info out but its bit perfect sound and it's amazing. I won't go back thats for sure.

**WeReWoLf** · 08-26-10, 09:33 PM

Sounds intriguing, I may have to look into it.

turdhat · 08-26-10, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pkirby11

Hell yeah this is FTW! I've been doing HDMI on my reciever with my GTX460 since I found out that my optical SPDIF couldn't do surround sound for Starcraft 2. Now that game and every other game I play sounds awesome, and your right there isn't much info out but its bit perfect sound and it's amazing. I won't go back thats for sure.

If you are listening like this ditch all your mp3's and reconvert you cd's to FLAC ! Mp3's sound like arse when you send them out pure like this into a good receiver with good speakers. I could not believe it myself how much detail was lost from mp3 compression. I do listen pretty deeply when I do listen so most may not notice. The big deal for me was that it seemed a song in regular stereo had such a good sound field. The vocal sounded like it was coming from the center speaker but the center wasnt on. That is good stereo imaging folks. The x-fi could not do this. The 480 can over hdmi with no eq or effects. JUst pure signal to the receiver. You can adjust stuff there but I dont.. Just make sure you use foobar with the wasapi plugin. It is the only way to bypass windows mixer and communicate directly with your avr. Well and ASIO but that is better for xp.

Really this makes the receiver your sound card. Love it !

gerardfraser · 08-26-10, 10:26 PM

Let me try to grasp what you guys are saying here.You are using your 480 to pass sound thru it.
So you just using the HD audio from onboard sound.For no loss with the two programs you stated.

OR are you saying that the 480gtx cards actually do something with the sound other then pass thru hdmi.

I have a harmon kardon and 480 and stuff.

I wonder if one you guys could let me know what you think the 480 card is doing.

EDIT:Also I do not think the 4xx cards can match 5xxx ATI cards in sound.

Ghost girl · 08-27-10, 01:05 AM

So, is there any way to do HDMI to DVI+3.5mm female?

I'd like to plug my Audio Technicas in and give it a try.

**jeffmd** · 08-27-10, 01:22 AM

They are passing their audio files over hdmi to let their decoders handle the digital to analog conversion. An excellent method for music, worthless for games because you need the sound card to render 3d audio.

gerardfraser · 08-27-10, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffmd

They are passing their audio files over hdmi to let their decoders handle the digital to analog conversion. An excellent method for music, worthless for games because you need the sound card to render 3d audio.

Yes thanks for that,but its still using onboard sound to process the data,then the card does its thing(using decoders)for music only(say MP3).
Hell even a gt2xx cards can do that.LOL.

So no real DolbyTrueHD/DTS-HD (like blue ray output)

I am just using s/pdif(optical) to reciever(harmon kardon),so I am not sure the sound will be any different for say blue ray movies(unless someone knows how to get the 192 sound).Music though it might be different and worth a try.

I might try this.What else can a 480GTX card do sound wise.

**musman** · 08-27-10, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost girl

So, is there any way to do HDMI to DVI+3.5mm female?

I'd like to plug my Audio Technicas in and give it a try.

It could be different for computers but, for home audio equipment DVI will not pass sound, only video.

pkirby11 · 08-27-10, 06:21 PM

Damn I swear every forum I go to is full of know it all's. Except your wrong, dead wrong. However I don't care to explain it to stupid people, all I will say, SC2 through SPDIF using onboard sound, 2 channels. SC2 allowing the signal to pass directly to the HDMI reciever using Linear PCM, 5.1 channels. If your to dumb to understand how it works that's not my fault, I also find it funny that you think that the onboard audio is still being used.

For those of you being polite thanks. Oh and btw gerardfraser I can do 192KHz.

DSC · 08-27-10, 07:34 PM

GF100 GPUs(GTX 480, 470, 465) have a built-in HD audio processor like the GT21x GPUs(210, GT 220, 240) that outputs 8 channel LPCM, supports 24bit 192kHz output.

GF104/106/108 GPUs also have a built-in HD audio processor with 8 channel LPCM output but also has the ability to bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA straight to the receiver without decoding it first, instead letting the receiver do the decoding.

The onboard audio on your motherboard is totally unused, it is not processing anything because the HD audio processor in the GPU does it. Please don't spread misinformation, gerardfraser.

Ghost girl · 08-27-10, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by musman

It could be different for computers but, for home audio equipment DVI will not pass sound, only video.

Maybe I should clarify, I mean sorta like this,

GTX480 -> HDMI -> Splitter -> DVI+3.5mm female -> Monitor + Headphones

Unless, of course, I'm missing something, in which case feel free to correct me.

08-26-10, 02:35 PM	#1
turdhat Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 379	Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW. I dont know how many of you have tried this but using the HDMI out on the 480 in to my hdmi receiver gives me bit perfect sound and surround as well with no sound card needed. SOunds awesome and WAY better than my old x-fi. I have not tried older games with it but every game I have tried has full surround support even if it is done in software. After benchmarking I see NO difference when the GPU is passing audio and even MSI gpu usage meter shows ZERO when I listen to audiophile level music in 5.1 at 96k/24-bit like the DVD audio of hotel califonia which is WAY more audio intensive that standard game sound. I saw a whooping 1-2% cpu utilization when playing back the most intensive audio files. If you are a music lover and want pure sound without windows touching the audio use the HDMI out to your receiver and use foobar with the wasapi plugin. This allows the hdmi out to communicate directly with my harmon kardon AVR NO DRIVERS NEEDED. The display on my harmon kardon changes depending on what game I play and what source material I listen to. Everything plays back in the bit rate it is encoded in with no issues at all. IF a game uses DTS for sound the receiver kicks in to DTS mode for instance. I have never heard better sound out of windows. JUst FYI.. BTW, There is little or no info about this out on the web. At least I cant find any. You get no EQ for your games but really you should need one. I am one of those "I want to hear is as it was intended to be heard" so I dont use eq very much at all unless it is a crappy audio bootleg. Eq' ing of music can be done using Foobar with the wasapi plugin. __________________ MSI P67GD55 Intel i7 2600k @ 4.8ghz 1.35v, 1.40v full load Cooler Master Hyper 212 Gigabyte 580 @945/2232 4 Gigs Ripjaw @ 1600 Antec (a good one) 650w A Partridge in a pear tree.

08-26-10, 08:53 PM	#2
pkirby11 Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Champaign, IL Posts: 927	Re: Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW. Hell yeah this is FTW! I've been doing HDMI on my reciever with my GTX460 since I found out that my optical SPDIF couldn't do surround sound for Starcraft 2. Now that game and every other game I play sounds awesome, and your right there isn't much info out but its bit perfect sound and it's amazing. I won't go back thats for sure. __________________ Steam: pkirby11 PSN: pkirby11

08-26-10, 09:33 PM	#3
WeReWoLf Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 5,013	Re: Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW. Sounds intriguing, I may have to look into it.

08-26-10, 10:26 PM	#5
gerardfraser Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 237	Re: Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW. Let me try to grasp what you guys are saying here.You are using your 480 to pass sound thru it. So you just using the HD audio from onboard sound.For no loss with the two programs you stated. OR are you saying that the 480gtx cards actually do something with the sound other then pass thru hdmi. I have a harmon kardon and 480 and stuff. I wonder if one you guys could let me know what you think the 480 card is doing. EDIT:Also I do not think the 4xx cards can match 5xxx ATI cards in sound. Last edited by gerardfraser; 08-26-10 at 10:38 PM. Reason: Also I do not think the 4xx cards can match 5xxx ATI cards in sound.

08-27-10, 01:05 AM	#6
Ghost girl 1.7% woodscrews. Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 53	Re: Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW. So, is there any way to do HDMI to DVI+3.5mm female? I'd like to plug my Audio Technicas in and give it a try.

08-27-10, 01:22 AM	#7
jeffmd Has a vegetation fetish Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,816	Re: Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW. They are passing their audio files over hdmi to let their decoders handle the digital to analog conversion. An excellent method for music, worthless for games because you need the sound card to render 3d audio. __________________ _________________________________________________ Mobo: EVGA 122-ck-nf68 680i sli, CPU: C2D Quad 6600, Video: EVGA GTX 460 1gb SC, Sound: X-fi gaming, Windows 7, Antec P180b,Thermalright Ultra-120 HSF, Antec TruPower TP3-650, 4 Gigs RAM

08-27-10, 06:21 PM	#10
pkirby11 Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Champaign, IL Posts: 927	Re: Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW. Damn I swear every forum I go to is full of know it all's. Except your wrong, dead wrong. However I don't care to explain it to stupid people, all I will say, SC2 through SPDIF using onboard sound, 2 channels. SC2 allowing the signal to pass directly to the HDMI reciever using Linear PCM, 5.1 channels. If your to dumb to understand how it works that's not my fault, I also find it funny that you think that the onboard audio is still being used. For those of you being polite thanks. Oh and btw gerardfraser I can do 192KHz. __________________ Steam: pkirby11 PSN: pkirby11

08-27-10, 07:34 PM	#11
DSC Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 881	Re: Gtx 480 as primary sound card FTW. GF100 GPUs(GTX 480, 470, 465) have a built-in HD audio processor like the GT21x GPUs(210, GT 220, 240) that outputs 8 channel LPCM, supports 24bit 192kHz output. GF104/106/108 GPUs also have a built-in HD audio processor with 8 channel LPCM output but also has the ability to bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA straight to the receiver without decoding it first, instead letting the receiver do the decoding. The onboard audio on your motherboard is totally unused, it is not processing anything because the HD audio processor in the GPU does it. Please don't spread misinformation, gerardfraser.