Any 4850's without HDMI Audio

[markrb38]

I missed most of the great deals at Newegg on the ASUS and other versions of the ATI 4850, but now they have the Gigabyte version for $150 AR AC (VGA7320 7-3 only).
I need the HDMI audio of this chipset, but I find no mention of it via the Gigabyte website.
I have read any of these first gen cards can be flashed with the Asus bios and use the Asus drivers.
Now 2 questions.
1. Do any of the 4850 not have HDMI audio (specifically the gigabyte in this case)?
2. Is it true that you can flash to the Asus bios and use (from what I have heard) pretty good drivers?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[taltamir]

the drivers from AMD themselves no matter WHO is selling the card. in fact, most 4850 probably came from the same factory with a different sticker. You are, however, choosing warranty and service.

The one thing is that it is possible for them not to include AMDs proprietary adapter (which you could buy otherwise). But besides that, it should be the same featurewise. (aka, have a DVI port to which you can plug a special amd adapter that gets HDMI audio and video through that port)