Trying to get 5.1 out of my mobo, no luck.

[MaxCool]

I have a gigabyte EP43-UD3L Mobo. Yes I know it's old but I have a Intel Dual Core 2.7 clocked to 3.2 ghz, gets the job done.

Anyway, the spec for the onboard sound is as follows.

Realtek ALC888 codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF In/Out
Support for CD In

So with my Yamaha 5.1 receiver (new model) connected from my PC via toslink, I SHOULD be able to get 5.1 surround.

Mind you, I'm fairly smart with computers, but I'm trying to figure out the issue.

Some people say it's the hardware, some say the software. Some say you can, some say you can't.

What all will I need to output 5.1?

 

[Durvelle27]

what are you trying to play

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

On my motherboard I have to set the sound device to the optical out and install the correct drivers.

 

[lamedude]

No Dolby Digital Live/DTS Connect so you can only get 5.1 from DD/DTS sources like movies with 5.1 audio. For everything else enable Virtual Surround in the Realtek control panel and set your AVR to ProLogic II.

 

[infoiltrator]

Manual pg 77 ?

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/motherboard_manual_ga-ep43-ud3l(us3l)_e.pdf

 

[Meforce]

Try the driver disk that came with the mobo?

 

[serpretetsky]

toslink doesn't have enough bandwidth to stream 5.1 uncompressed audio. In order to get 5.1 through toslink you need to use a compression method like dolby digital live or dts connect, which your reciever/speaker setup then has to support (if it has toslink input it should support at least one or the other, if not both).

I also have a gigabyte board with alc 889, and i've found that my model doesn't support either compression method via gigabytes drivers, so I am out of luck with my p35-ds3p. I'm forced to use the analog components.

You can usually find the different compression forms to use in the realtek drivers in the control panel. Somewhere there is a tab that asks how you want to output your audio (i think it should be in the default format drop down, the same one where you select your sample rate output).

If you don't have that (like i dont) try updating the drivers. If it's still not there, i dont think gigabyte supports this option for you. You might be able to find a hack that can enable it, i'm not sure, i just gave up there.

see this thread for what you should be looking for
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1708835