switching between onboard sound and soundcard?

[Sane]

I have an Audigy 2 ZS in my PC, but sadly it doesn't have optical out, which means i can't hook it up to my surround receiver. Now, my motherboard (Nforce 3 Asus K8N-E) has onboard sound with an optical out.

What I would like is use the Audigy for PC games etc and use the onboard for surround through my surround receiver when watching DVD's on the TV. However, I can't seem to get the onboard sound enabled. I tried installing the realtek ac 97 codec, but in device manager I can only see the Audigy. Is it at all possible to enable the onboard sound when you have a real soundcard installed? And if so, what do I do?

Thanks in advance.

[Valken]

Might be worth checking to see if it's enabled in the BIOS.

[superkully]

I know my M/B shuts off the on-board when a soundcard is installed (Abit An7, nforce 2). Perhaps this is a nVidia trait?

[Sane]

I checked the BIOS but it doesn't say anything anywhere about realtek or AC 97, which is what it would be called I guess.

[superkully]

If it says nothing, it points to it auto disabling the on-board sound.

[*PrYzM*]

I've also got a Audigy 2 zs and onboard sound on my kv8 pro 3rd eye mobo. I can swap between either in the audio control tab without rebooting, you can even assign different soundchips to do different things.

[Sane]

I've also got a Audigy 2 zs and onboard sound on my kv8 pro 3rd eye mobo. I can swap between either in the audio control tab without rebooting, you can even assign different soundchips to do different things.

Hmm what software do you have installed for the onboard sound? For me the onboard sound doesn't show up in the audio control tab. I tried installing the realtek ac 97 drivers but that didn't do anything. I also found nvidia audio drivers, however I can't install those as the onboard sound thingy doesn't show in the device manager (and you have to install the driver through there).

[yosai]

May be worth checking the motherboard manual. One of my PC's has jumpers to enable/disable the onbaord sound.

[yashiro]

A note. You can buy an addon for the zs to enable optical audio. However, for games it's pointless. Via optical out, in games, all you get is stereo.

Now Nforce2 audio is a different story. Just like the Xbox its able to get 5.1 over opt/spdif for all surround sources. You, however, have Nforce3 so thats out of the window too.

[Sane]

The mobo manual just says 'install the software from the driver cd', but that doesn't do anything.

Yashiro, I didn't know you could buy that thing seperate, I thought you could only get it with the platinum edetion. Do you know any sites that sell it by any chance? I know it won't work for games btw, but that's not a problem, I just need it for movies.

[yashiro]

http://uk.europe.creative.com/shop/

[*PrYzM*]

Sane you could check your bios settings to confirm that onboard sound is either enabled or disabled.
I'm pretty sure none of the motherboards i have used (gigabyte, asus and mostly abit) have ever disabled onboard sound just because a addon soundcard was installed.
My current abit kv8 pro 3rd eye motherboard sound drivers, are currently listed on the abit website.

[Freddo]

A note. You can buy an addon for the zs to enable optical audio. However, for games it's pointless. Via optical out, in games, all you get is stereo.

Now your Nvidia audio is a different story. Just like the Xbox you should be able to get 5.1 over opt/spdif for all surround sources.

your audigy ought to output spdif coaxial digital audio by default by 3.5mm jack, plug in your choice of cable (presumably with 1x phono on the other end) and bobs your uncle.

also nforce3(and 4) motherboards dropped the "soundstorm" audio chip which was capable of realtime 5.1 encoding sadly, so either way your stuck with stereo for games I'm afraid.

[yashiro]

Yeah, I didn't notice he said NF3. Aye, no soundstorm on NF3/4 boards.

As for the the spdif jack; a mono 3.5mm to phono may work. The digital port on the ZS, however, is set up to support a 3 to 4 pole 3.5mm digital connection (creative custom).

I'd try the simple cable approach first. You should get 5.1 for movies and for games just use your amp to upmix in PLII.


FYI your onboard sound does also have coax out says ASUS.

http://usa.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=K8N-E%20Deluxe&langs=09

Realtek ALC850, 8-channel CODEC
Audio Sensing and Enumeration Technology
Coaxial/Optical S/PDIF out ports on back I/O

[Sane]

Well the onboard sound does have an optical out, it just doesn't do anything. The Audigy ZS has 3 outputs to get 5.1 sound which hooks up to one of those Creative speaker sets with 3 wires with headphone plugs on each end, if you know what i mean. The trouble is that my amp doesn't have those inputs.

The audigy does also have some kind of digital out yes, but i've no idea where to get a cable with that kind of plug on one end and optical or coxial on the other.

Also the addon to the ZS is a bit too expensive for it to be worthwhile. It's ironic really, I thought I'd buy a good soundcard because I figured I would be able to hook it up to my amp easily .

I still don't understand how to enable the onboard sound, I checked the bios but couldn't find anything I could enable there. Basicallywhat Pryzm said would be most ideal for me.