Sound Card to Av Reciever/Amp

[whitebloodcell]

To Connect the onboard sound module on my Mobo (DFI Lanparty NF4 Ultra) to my Amp/Reciever with full surround sound, for games especially,what do I need?

Thanks

[scoobydoo]

newegg says it has a toslink output

connect an optical toslink from the mobo to the receiver

the receiver will decode the dolby digital

[Emon]

Take a look at the toslink cables from PartsExpress:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&Webpage_ID=3&DID=7&CAT_ID=34&ObjectGroup_ID=151&SO=2

About the cheapest I've found. PartsExpress is a great company with fantastic service. You can also order from them through Amazon, do a search for "toslink," the cheapest ones are from PartsExpress. I have the 12 footer, much more flexible than I thought it would be. I wasn't concerned about the optical fiber being flexible, but rather the PVC jacket. Crappy PVC is really stiff. This stuff is really, really nice.

[whitebloodcell]

So I definitely don't need to connect through analog to recieve 5.1 in all my games etc? If Connecting through toslink is the soundcard you have irrelevant? So onboard audio is OK? I was going to upgrade to X Fi, but this would mean getting a new Mobo (no PCI Slots left)

Reading about various connections on this (http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/audio_toslink_cables.html#why) site

Do I need a 3.5mm "mini" plug?

[juliendogg]

Most onboard sound and even soundboards only output 2 channel audio through the toslink. You have to stick to the analog to get 5.1 from games and winamp and such. The exceptions are the x-mystique, Nvidia soundstorm, and the turtle beach montego. These will actually do DD Live through the optical (toslink) or digital coax.

J.

[whitebloodcell]

Most onboard sound and even soundboards only output 2 channel audio through the toslink. You have to stick to the analog to get 5.1 from games and winamp and such. The exceptions are the x-mystique, Nvidia soundstorm, and the turtle beach montego. These will actually do DD Live through the optical (toslink) or digital coax.

J.

Thanks,

so what cables do I need then for this? Using onboard sound, since gaming is a priority I think if I get a soundcard it will be the X Fi.

[JCLW]

First you need a receiver with a multi-channel analog input.
http://www.yamaha.ca/av/Images/receivers/HTR5740/HTR_5740_back_panel.jpg

Then you'll need three 3.5mm (1/8th if you live in the states) to RCA stereo adaptors.
http://www.dak2000.com/reviews/ImagesR/2026_CableAll300.jpg

Look in the manual to see which plugs go to which jacks, and you should be good to go. You may have to adjust some software (driver) settings.

Personally, I'd take the X-Mystique over the X-Fi

Sidenote: Most newer intel boards support DDLive! encoding as well. I use it on both my i915 and i955 based systems.

[whitebloodcell]

Thanks for your help, Ive got the recoever, a Yamaha aswell actually. (its alot bigger than I am expected. :))

Just need to order the cables now. Excellent.