9800gx2 spdif IO

jwyckoff

I built a htpc
evga 680i sli mb
intel Q6600 cpu
4 GB ram
LG super mutli blue
1000 watt ps
evga 9800gx2
I had a pny 8800gtx ultra, but put the 9800gx2 in to get better video and true HDMI out, but mb does not have spdif out to get sound through the HDMI.
Question is, do I put a soundblaster audigy2 zs (card I have) in to get spdif out or replace mb for one with spdif out an board? Or is there another way to go.

procupine14

I guess there is always the basic option of using a 3.5 to RCA from the speaker out on the onboard sound on your mobo. That would be the super simple way to go. If that is a viable solution for you. it would save you some $$

Tipstaff

From what I remember the eVGA 680i boards have SPDIF out on the back panel, and just beside the front panel audio connector on the motherboard (bottom left of the board) there should be a set of 5 pins that are related to SPDIF out. The real trick is that you only need 2 of them. Get them wrong, and you could toast something as pin 1 is for power.

Edit: A quick search of eVGAs site turned up THIS thread. There's a picture in there for a another board, but it's the same for the 680i. The key is to hook up pin 2 (SPDIF out) to pin 1 on the video card (could be shown as a triangle, a + sign, or simply labeled with a 1), and pin 5 (ground) to the other pin on the video card.