Realtek AC850 -- How do I get 5.1 surround sound? I only have an S/PDIF connection...

sofakng

Senior member
Jul 19, 2004
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I'm using an ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard which has a Realtek AC850 chip for audio. The chip (and motherboard) certainly seem awesome and it has a S/PDIF connection, optical output connection as well as 6 mini-jacks on the back.

Aside from that, I have a super old "Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theatre 5.1" sound system. On the back on the unit I have a front line-in, rear line-in, and S/PDIF jack labeled "Dolby Digital (AC-3) S/PDIF IN".

In the Realtek drivers I have my system setup for 6 channels (which I don't think is correct because I don't have a seperate jack on my speakers for the center speak or a subwoofer).

When I use WinDVD 5 and select "S/PDIF output", it works GREAT and outputs in Dolby Digital 5.1 (I have a light on my speakers that designate DD5.1 output). However, when I try using 5.1 inside of Half-Life 2 it doesn't seem to output in DD5.1 (even though I have "5.1 Speaker Surround Sound" selected).

Am I doing something wrong? I'm very confused and frustrated... I've tried everything including switching to the nVidia Audio drivers but that didn't seem to help...

Anybody have anything I could try?
 

John Keats

Junior Member
Feb 17, 2005
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I've got a new Gigabyte mobo and I'm having an almost identical problem... The Gigabyte uses Realtek 97 audio drivers and it looks like half life 2 isn't having it... it will only pick up the center channel in my 5.1 system. So I have to be looking DIRECTLY AT someone to hear them... If anybody has any solutions to this I'd love to hear them.
 

ajmiles

Member
Dec 31, 2004
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If i recall correctly a beta version of the Realtek ALC850 driver was released on steampowered.com addressing this exact same issue. 5.1 on Half Life 2 was impossible without this beta driver. I'll go have a look, I'm sure it was on this forum I saw it.

Steampowered.com Forusm

I believe it's the AC97 stuff you want to read. About a page down on the first post it mentions Realtek drivers, and which ones do and don't work. Older ones do, newer ones don't.