nForce 1 APU question...

[OmnipotentSpleen]

I've never really been much into audio, but I just got an Abit NV7-M for free, and i was wondering what advantage this has over my old standard ac97 audio. i coudln't find any info on the nforce1 APU at nvidia's website. my motherboard manual has this listed for the audio features:

• nVIDIA MCP-1 built-in APU w/ 256 total voices

• Support AC3 encode purpose

(does this have any real world benifits?)

• Professional digital audio interface supporting SPDIF out (optional)

(how do i tell if i have this?)

• AC' 97 Audio Codec onboard

i guess i'm wondering what i can do with this as far as enabling options in games and speaker setups. (eax, 5.1 speakrs, etc).

any recomondations as to what would be a good idea for a sound setup for doom3 with this motherboard? would headphones be my best bet?

 

[mechBgon]

The board has the MCP-D southbridge, with the same audio capabilities as an nForce2 with the MCP-T southbridge. You can see photos of two flavors of S/PDIF here. If you don't have something like that, then you get whatever analog output the board has jacks for.

FYI, the Abit nForce 1 boards often give temperature readings that sound really high. Don't fall out of your chair if you go into the BIOS and the CPU temperature is in the 65-70C range. It's just The Way Things Are.

 

[OmnipotentSpleen]

hrmm...it looks like i have just a regular line-out. so i guess that means that it doesn't support 5.1 channels?

my temps haven't been bad at all I don't think. cpu is at 109F(43C) and case is at 104F(40C) right now. the case seems a lot hotter than it should be i think...becuase it's only about 80F in my room and i have way too may fans in my case. i think it's becuase the air from the cpu heatsink fan is being blown across the motherboard temp sensor.

 

[mechBgon]

If you have 5.1 speakers, try the nVidia audio utility that's installed with the nVidia motherboard driver package, and see if it can reprogram your jacks to 5.1 analog. The Speaker Setup Wizard may be just the ticket.

 

[OmnipotentSpleen]

I'm not seeing any nVidia audio utility. shoudln't it be in the control pannel, and would have been installed witht he drivers at nvidia's website? i have the newest drivers.

 

[mechBgon]

That's correct, or a green nVidia icon in your System Tray. Are you sure your board has the MCP-D southbridge on it? Take a look, it'll be written right on it whether it's the MCP-D or just the MCP plain-vanilla.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

That board gives you the craptacular 2 channel realtek by analog connections. For 5.1 dolby digital APU goodness you need to attach the SPDIF bracket and use one of the digital out interfaces. the nV Mixer not loading is a head scratcher. Since you used the latest UDs I can only guess that nV mixer isn't loading because you have the wrong bios and speaker connection setup. I think you may have to connect SPDIF and speakers or A/V with digital coax or optical and turn off the AC97 audio in the bios and leave the APU audio enable then un-install, use driver cleaner, then re-install the UDPs to be on the safest side. I should think you can leave the AC97 audio enabled but turning it off might be worth trying if the mixer still doesn't load.

 

[OmnipotentSpleen]

hmm...i don't have a SPDIF bracket. i don't have a 5.1 setup yet either. i wanted to make sure my board supported it before i spent money on a system. and i did check, the southbridge is the MCP-D, not the plain-vanilla MCP.

dapunisher - so what you're saying is that unless i use the SPDIF i'm not using the APU, only a realtek codec?

man, i know nothing about this.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: OmnipotentSpleen
dapunisher - so what you're saying is that unless i use the SPDIF i'm not using the APU, only a realtek codec?

I don't know wether the APU does the work in hardware before passing it on to the CODEC with your board, but I do know if you want the quality of sound that the APU offers you have to use the digital interface so it by-passes the realtek.

 

[Odeen]

The MCP-D southbridge has the advanced Soundstorm APU. It does the sound processing, and then gives the results for the Realtek codec to either a) output via the digital connection, Realtek chip acting merely as an SPDIF signaler or "PHY" (Physical layer) or b) letting the Realtek convert the digital signals into analog.

So you never "bypass" any one chip. However, the DAC and the analog stage of Realtek codecs is horrible, so you're better off getting an SPDIF bracket for your motherboard, and outputting the digital signal to a receiver or a digital speaker set.

5.1 analog:
The blue and pink jacks on the motherboard become "output" jacks - blue handling rear speakers and pink handling center/sub. Without the orange and black jacks, you either have 5.1 and NO inputs, 4.0 and mic input, or 2.0 and both a line in and a mic in

Dolby Digital Encoding:
This is NEAT. Basically, there's no way to transmit 5.1 audio over a single digital cable, unless you use compression, such as Dolby Digital or DTS schemes. So, on most audio chips, using digital out restricts you to stereo (2 channel) output only.

nForce Soundstorm is the ONLY sound chip capable of taking 4.0 or 5.1 audio, and applying Dolby Digital compression IN REAL TIME, thus letting you output 5.1 over a single digital cable into a compatible receiver or speaker set (Such as Logitech Z680 or Klipsch Promedia GMX 5.1). The price is a slight reduction in fidelity due to the quick-and-nasty compression. Still beats using the analog stage of the Realtek chip, which is even nastier.

Of course, this is all dependent on a) your speaker system and b) getting that digital output bracket from Abit.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Hey Odeen, I don't know about the MCP-D but with the MCP-T you most assuredly do by-pass the realtek all together. Have a look at the diagram here

Jim made that FAQs with the help of one of the lead members of the nForce platform divison for nV so I doubt there are any errors. Unless the MCP-D uses a different scheme then the Realtek is completely left out of the loop when using SPDIF.

Getting into it further, the board in question only provides a 2 channel realtek CODEC that doesn't even have a speaker amp. It seems to follow that output via SPDIF is coming straight from the APU since it outputs DD 5.1 by that connection.

 

[OmnipotentSpleen]

wow, all very interesting. much more info that i knew that i needed to know! awesome

i'm interested in taking advantage of the nforce APU...will i even be able to do so with my current 2.1 speaker setup? or will i need that SPDIF bracket and a 5.1 sound system? where can i get a SPDIF bracket?

also, thanks for the link to that nforce faq.

 

[OmnipotentSpleen]

oh also...how do I get it so I can have the nforce APU icon in my control pannel?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

You need to be able to connect digital optical or coaxial to your speakers or have a A/V reciever, ect. or the SPDIF does you no good with speakers that only have analog jacks.

excaliberPC is the place for all thing abit but they don't have the 4 pin SPDIF module you need so call them and see if they can hunt it down. Once you have one connected with your speakers hooked up try the advice I listed above concerning BIOS settings and how to uninstall and reinstall the forceware unified drivers. That should give you the nvmixer so you can setup using the speaker wizard. Your 2.1 setup will definitely work once you get the other hardware and software correctly configed.

 

[Concillian]

Have you installed the nVidia drivers?

Go to nvidia site, choose download drivers, and platform/nforce drivers
Current version is 4.27

These should give you the nvidia utility that will be able to reprogram the jacks in the rear of your computer so that they will be 5.1 analog. Even with 2.0 or 2.1 you will be getting the 3D hardware acceleration, just not the optimum quality without bypassing the Realtek DAC.

Outputting via SPDIF and converting to analog externally is the only way to bypass the POS Realtek.

Aside from going into a receiver with the SPDIF, I've heard of people using SPDIF --> Exigy and basically using the Exigy as an external DAC to gain quality.

 

[OmnipotentSpleen]

yeah, i have installed the nvidia drivers, but i still don't have the the nvidia utility in my control pannel.

 

[Iron Woode]

perhaps installing the NV System Utility can shed some light on what is going on.

 

[OmnipotentSpleen]

i belive that's only available for nforce2/3 chipsets...not nforce one. i reinstalled the nforce drivers...still no control pannel applet. i do have nvmixer...but that doesn't give as much control as the control pannel applet. no idea what's going on.