Epox 8RDA+ here

[First]

Originally posted by: Tabb
It does? Horrah! Now, does it have a AGP and PCI Lock? Oh, and get that 6-Way nForce2 Roundup on the main page!

Hehe, it's coming.

 

[NicColt]

>It uses the Nvidia sound! Man, I can't believe this is still being asked

Do you have the s/pdif connector ? was it included ?

There's a good reason why it's being asked, if you look at the Hexus.net review they go on to say that;

"Although there's an optional add-on card that provides optical out, this motherboard ships without the Soundstorm certification (You need to have S/PDIF as standard, as well as 6-channel support and hardware AC3 encoding. There's an additional SPD650 card that will give it the full range of sound options)."

If you just use the purple blue and green connectors for sound you don't get SoundStorm certification and since (according to Hexus) they don't include the s/pdif connector, the soundstorm is included but you can't use it out of the box.

Now you, the inquirer and Hexus are saying three different things about the very same motherboard. Dude I'm not making this up, these are all facts.

 

[justshawnf]

Let's see if I can help.

The RDA+ does not have the s/pdif connector included, but you can purchase it separately.
The RDA+ only has 3 connectors in the back for sound, but they can be programmed to suit your needs. The mic and line-in can be changed to center and rear channel to get full 6 channel sound.
The RDA+ does use the Nvidia sound found on the MCP-T. In fact, the driver interface looks exactly the same as the screenshots I've seen posted elsewhere on this forum for the Asus a7n8x.

No where in the documentation does it mention SoundStorm, but I think Hexus probably got it right. If an s/pdif is 'required' for certification, then this board wouldn't be 'certifiable' out of the box. Remember, SoundStorm doesn't MAKE anything, they just certify other people's equipment. There are no SoundStorm chips or drivers on ANY nForce2 board. Just some have been certified, and some have not. The sound processor is the same whether it is certified or not.

Hope that helps.

 

[NicColt]

justshawnf, good explanation thanks.

I know that every MCP-T board includes SoundStorm on the SouthBridge but that would also explain why different manufacturers will decide on which features to include on their boards, particularly so in the case of the South Bridge features. Meaning that this is why we seem to be seeing the same boards with different implementations with sound such as one with Optical out another with s/pdif out and another with nothing and those without the optical out or s/pdif out will not be soundstorm certified.

If that is the case then It's kinda low for epox to not have included a $0.25 cents s/pdif connector. The reason this is important is because I use sound through my Home Theatre Receiver that has an s/pdif connector for Dolby Surround. Now those of us who get this board will have to hunt down an s/pdif connector.