video card audio vs sound card audio

[surfingerman]

i just got my 5876 card and i noticed on the card it supports 7.1 sound.. i currently have an awesome sound HT card omega claro, im confused would it make sense to sell my claro and use the 5876 for my audio, or am i missing something.. is a 5876 audio (hdmi) audio going to be close to the same as my audio card? im very confused as to how the audio on video cards works.. any help is greatly appreciated

 

[NinkobEi]

I think it is more of a throughput device.. it shouldnt do any actual sound processing. just think of it as a headphone jack built in to your vga cable.

 

[Pickles24]

I wondered the same with my Sapphire 4890 new edition hdmi, so I hooked it up though my Denon and it is rockin' 5.1. The receiver does all of the decoding however. Kinda like an xbox hdmi. Mine gets real hot on air, but I knew that was going happen pushing a 38" Vizio LCD.

 

[surfingerman]

thanks.. i guess i will just stick with the audio card, it has improved my audio remarkably, and even if it isnt better than the 5870.. ive heard that having an audio card process the sound takes stress off the computer

 

[TheLaughingMan]

I am confused. WTF is a 5876?

If you are talking about the 5000 series of ATI cards, it is not a throughput device. Their is an actually sound processing chip on the card itself, but it only works through the HDMI (maybe DisplayPort, not sure about that). It is actually a very good sound chip and will take just as much stress off the CPU, which normally does the sound processing for onboard sound chips, as a dedicated card. Dedicated sound card will have more connection options and output possibilities. They are also upgradable and tend to boast much better software. If you are outputting through HDMI, then I would stick with the HD 5000 series card just so their are less cables to worrry about.

Card will be hotter than normal since both the GPU and sound chip will be working, so you may want to bump up the fan speed a little more than normal.

 

[Pickles24]

Agreed.. This receiver automatically changes with whatever is connected, and it reads Dolby Digital from my PC. So it is already decoded, It really booms in Battlefield BC2.. bullets scream by.