ASUS A7N266-VM question

[cheapgoose]

hey guys,the audio questions have been answered, now i have a video question.

someone suggested using this to do video out. if that works, will I be able to do like a dual display, vga to monitor, and av out to tv?

while i'm here, if I add a AGP video card, and connect that to tv only, can I still use onboard video to monitor?

 

[Kenazo]

the onboard audio has the SPDIF outs, it's a soundstorm system, I belive. Dolby Digital out.

 

[mechBgon]

To be specific, it has both styles of S/PDIF, too... one optical, one coaxial. Pic here, they're on a PCI-slot bracket.

 

[cheapgoose]

thanks Kenazo.

and thanks MechBgon, you've helped me before when I first got this board. one more question though, so with the optical, is that like a rca plug?i just realized i'm not gonna be using a reciever, so sound is going straight to tv. my tv only has s-video and rca.

thanks in advance.

 

[mechBgon]

The optical S/PDIF-out uses a laser emitter (look at the little hatch thing, it glows red due to the laser behind the cover) and uses a fiber-optic cable instead of a metal cable. So it's an alternate flavor for those people whose equipment uses that style. I've never used either one myself so I'm not sure what equipment would use the optical one.

 

[mindless1]

Originally posted by: cheapgoose
thanks Kenazo.

and thanks MechBgon, you've helped me before when I first got this board. one more question though, so with the optical, is that like a rca plug?i just realized i'm not gonna be using a reciever, so sound is going straight to tv. my tv only has s-video and rca.

thanks in advance.

Because you want to go straight to the TV, which only has analog input (S-Video or RCA), you can only use analog output on the motherboard. That is, the old-school headphone jack with an (stereo headphone plug to 2 male RCA plugs) adapter.

To clarify, you can't use ANY motherboard with that TV and use dolby/digi-out. Any-old board with speaker/phone out jack will do what you want.

Frankly, if building this only for audio, you don't need to spend the money on new gear, higher heat, cooling & noise issues. Any Pentium 200MMX or better can do MP3 fine. On the other hand, I'm only ASSUMING you didn't want video since you mentioned you won't use onboard video... there isn't any need for aftermarket video card with that motherboard, you can get an adapter that fits in the AGP slot that is only a "dumb" device, not a GPU but just converts the onboard video to composite, S-Video, and DVI out. IIRC it's about $25 @ newegg but they may have refurbs from time to time.

 

[cheapgoose]

cool, thank you both for your comments.

yea, I kinda figuer I had to use the audio jacks. thanks again.

 

[Kenazo]

Keep in mind that w/ this board, if you ever get a good receiver you can plug directly into it using the optical connections, that's a plus, in my opinion.

 

[cheapgoose]

up for more questions

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: cheapgoose
hey guys,the audio questions have been answered, now i have a video question.

someone suggested using this to do video out. if that works, will I be able to do like a dual display, vga to monitor, and av out to tv?

while i'm here, if I add a AGP video card, and connect that to tv only, can I still use onboard video to monitor?

I haven't used one of those, but my understanding is that it does indeed give you dual-head capability in the bargain. Have you looked on Asus's site for more info on it?

 

[mindless1]

Originally posted by: cheapgoose
hey guys,the audio questions have been answered, now i have a video question.

someone suggested using this to do video out. if that works, will I be able to do like a dual display, vga to monitor, and av out to tv?

while i'm here, if I add a AGP video card, and connect that to tv only, can I still use onboard video to monitor?

You can only have one device going to the AGP port, since it's a port, not a bus. The integrated/onboard video is AGP, therefore a 2nd display would have to be either via the onboard video's functionality (which is possible with nForce(2?) but only if the manufacturer supports that. I vaguely recall an Albatron (or some other brand of) nForce2 board that has dual VGA ports built on or other makes "can" use an adapter like the one you linked.

However, that adapter bracket you linked is not appropriate for an A7N266-VM, which instead requires using THIS, which is called a DVI card but is actually all three functions. Well, at least I don't think the one you linked will work with the A7N266-VM, that it doesn't even have the pin-header for one.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: mindless1

Originally posted by: cheapgoose
hey guys,the audio questions have been answered, now i have a video question.

someone suggested using this to do video out. if that works, will I be able to do like a dual display, vga to monitor, and av out to tv?

while i'm here, if I add a AGP video card, and connect that to tv only, can I still use onboard video to monitor?

You can only have one device going to the AGP port, since it's a port, not a bus. The integrated/onboard video is AGP, therefore a 2nd display would have to be either via the onboard video's functionality (which is possible with nForce(2?) but only if the manufacturer supports that. I vaguely recall an Albatron (or some other brand of) nForce2 board that has dual VGA ports built on or other makes "can" use an adapter like the one you linked.

However, that adapter bracket you linked is not appropriate for an A7N266-VM, which instead requires using THIS, which is called a DVI card but is actually all three functions. Well, at least I don't think the one you linked will work with the A7N266-VM, that it doesn't even have the pin-header for one.

Ooops, good catch mindless1 I assumed that was what the link led to, being bandwidth-challenged.

 

[cheapgoose]

cool thanks guys.

I did browse ASUS's site and that av device is only good for the nforce2 version fo the matx board, so it wouldn't work anyway. and you right on the video too, only some of the nforce2 mobos support dual (tv+dvi or vga+tv). oh well.

ok, no more questions. thanks again.

 

[mindless1]

It seems I omitted the other obvious choice.

The integrated/onboard video is AGP, therefore a 2nd display would have to be either via the onboard video's functionality ...

or a PCI video card.