Video card HDMI just for sound?

Sinzia · Apr 17, 2013

Not sure if this goes in here or in video cards, so let me know!

I have a spare Pioneer 5.1 receiver, with HDMI in. I'd like to use it for surround sound with my gaming PC, but I use DVI for my 4 monitors.

Can I use one of the spare HDMI outs (Like from my 650 Ti) just as a sound card?

I.E. there's no monitor hooked up to it, just audio.

Thanks folks!

FreedomEclipse · Apr 17, 2013

Sure you can.

should work fine with a 680

Sasqui · Apr 17, 2013

I think you're only going to answer the question by trying it out!

Sinzia · Apr 17, 2013

Sasqui said:
I think you're only going to answer the question by trying it out!

Heh, I was thinking about that, but I was hoping I could get some confirmation first!

Sasqui · Apr 17, 2013

Sinzia said:
Heh, I was thinking about that, but I was hoping I could get some confirmation first!

...Sounds like an off-situation, I'm assuming you have one card, 4 monitors connected to DVI ports and want to use a spare HDMI on the same card to pump out the HD Audio? Just not sure.

If it was two cards, one dedicated to HD audio only, there may be a conflict if the card for video also has HD Audio.

Sinzia · Apr 17, 2013

Sasqui said:
...Sounds like an off-situation, I'm assuming you have one card, 4 monitors connected to DVI ports and want to use a spare HDMI on the same card to pump out the HD Audio? Just not sure.

If it was two cards, one dedicated to HD audio only, there may be a conflict if the card for video also has HD Audio.

I'll just have to try and see I guess.

This makes it seem like it's at least possible:

So I have a possible workaround/solution which I will post in case it helps anyone else.

Whichever graphics card I tried (520 or 670), if I connected HDMI->receiver->projector, audio would not work. Adding a second card meant I could go HDMI->receiver and HDMI->projector and HDMI->receiver would pass audio. My solution therefore was to separate the audio and video separately on the same card, so I did HDMI->receiver and DVI->projector (It was a DVI to HDMI cable). This meant I had to set duplicate desktop on both DVI and HDMI and in the nVidia control panel set audio to just be on the HDMI. I then had to play a little with display settings to make sure I was driving both at 1080p60 (I did originally get tearing as it was truing to drive displays at 59Hz).

Anyway, this is acceptable, and certainly better than having to go through an RMA process. Still seems like a bug to me somewhere though.

Sasqui · Apr 22, 2013

Sinzia said:
My solution therefore was to separate the audio and video separately on the same card, so I did HDMI->receiver and DVI->projector (It was a DVI to HDMI cable). This meant I had to set duplicate desktop on both DVI and HDMI and in the nVidia control panel set audio to just be on the HDMI.

I susepected it would be "wonky". No idea how the cable sensing (Audio vs Video) works on the HDMI cable. I bet that had something to do with it not working with the pass-through, and it could be something to do with the reciever.

Now I'm curious how AMD cards might work in the same config.

Sinzia · Apr 30, 2013

So I got it working, I used the 650Ti because if I used it on one of my 680's Nvidia Surround would stop working.

The trick to get it to work was I had to "clone" my 17 inch HP display to the Sony receiver! Once I did that all was right with the world.

Included is a screen shot of how it looks inside the Nvidia Control Panel.

FreedomEclipse · Apr 30, 2013

so you are now running 3GPUs?

Sinzia · May 1, 2013

FreedomEclipse said:
so you are now running 3GPUs?

I always was.

Oh, It seems my system specs are not up to date, I'll fix that now!

Thanks for reminding me, Freedom!

FreedomEclipse · May 1, 2013

does that setup boost 3d performance? or does that 650 function as a dedicated physics and 'audio' card?

d1nky · May 1, 2013

sounds very interesting, basically a dedicated sound card but hdmi out. and i would like to know about the performance/physx scaling also?!

if you get a spare smaller monitor you could also have an independent temp/stats monitor for gaming and benching etc!

patrico · May 1, 2013

should work fine,, no??

Sinzia · May 2, 2013

I've been using it for physx, and also to drive a 4th monitor to show system stats (Precision's monitor, AIDA64, CPUz and GPUz) before I thought about using it as a sound card.

I switched to this over the onboard or my xfi titanium because both of those were crackling and distorting the audio after a few hours of playing.

I'm sure it doesn't hurt, but I doubt it would help with physx considering that I have dual 680's in the system.

System Name	FragBox
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600K @ 5.0GHz/1.45 volts
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77 WS
Cooling	Custom CPU loop
Memory	Kingston 12GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Galaxy GTX 680/Zotac GTX 680 in SLi/EVGA GTX 650Ti
Storage	2 Vertex 3 120's, raid 0, 2 Seagate Momentus XT 500GB's in raid 0, 1 Hitatchi 2TB for backup
Display(s)	3 Acer S232HLX2 in nvidia surround
Case	Corsair C70 White
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Software	Win 7 x64 Pro

System Name	Codename: Icarus Mk.VI
Processor	Intel 8600k@Stock -- pending tuning
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strixx Z370-F
Cooling	CPU: BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 {1xCorsair ML120 Pro\|5xML140 Pro}
Memory	32GB XPG Gammix D10 {2x16GB}
Video Card(s)	ASUS Dual Radeon™ RX 6700 XT OC Edition
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 512GB SSD (Boot)\|WD SN770 (Gaming)\|2x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300\|2x 2TB Crucial BX500
Display(s)	LG GP850-B
Case	Corsair 760T (White)
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V573\|Speakers: JBL Control One\|Auna 300-CN\|Wharfedale Diamond SW150
Power Supply	Corsair AX760
Mouse	Logitech G900
Keyboard	Duckyshine Dead LED(s) III
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

System Name	Senile
Processor	I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard	MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling	Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory	16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage	Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s)	34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (34401440) FREE_SYNC*
Case	Rosewill
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply	Corsair HX750
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software	Win 10

System Name	FragBox
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600K @ 5.0GHz/1.45 volts
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77 WS
Cooling	Custom CPU loop
Memory	Kingston 12GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Galaxy GTX 680/Zotac GTX 680 in SLi/EVGA GTX 650Ti
Storage	2 Vertex 3 120's, raid 0, 2 Seagate Momentus XT 500GB's in raid 0, 1 Hitatchi 2TB for backup
Display(s)	3 Acer S232HLX2 in nvidia surround
Case	Corsair C70 White
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Software	Win 7 x64 Pro

System Name	Senile
Processor	I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard	MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling	Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory	16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage	Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s)	34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (34401440) FREE_SYNC*
Case	Rosewill
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply	Corsair HX750
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software	Win 10

Video card HDMI just for sound?

Sinzia

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

Sasqui

Sinzia

Sasqui

Sinzia

Sasqui

Sinzia

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

Sinzia

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

d1nky

patrico

Sinzia

System Name	Zotan
Processor	i9-10850K
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z490 Gaming X AX
Cooling	H100
Memory	32GB Viper 3200
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX3080
Case	Airflow 275R
Power Supply	RMX850
Benchmark Scores	d1nky@hwbot.org

Processor	q6600 G0 @ 2.8Ghz
Motherboard	ex38 DS4
Cooling	air
Memory	4 *1gig tracer ballistic
Video Card(s)	sapphire dual bios 6950
Storage	ssd- sandisk 120gb, sata- 2 500gb samsung in raid 1 & 1 samsung 400gb
Display(s)	LG w2452tx
Case	nzxt
Audio Device(s)	na
Power Supply	hiper 730
Mouse	g9
Keyboard	bt microsoft arch
Software	win7