Two Concurrent Codecs??

[Darkhawk28]

On integrated sound modules on motherboards... what does this mean??

Thanks in advance.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Wrong forum
If you're talking about the nForce2, it uses a separate chip for the MCP and the DAC
Wrong forum
If you're not, then I have no idea what you're talking about
Wrong forum

Thank you.

- M4H

 

[Lord Evermore]

Well, it is hardware, so it's not really the wrong forum. There might be a more specific forum, but...

Anyway, what motherboards have you seen that say this?

Most motherboards with integrated sound use the AC97 audio controller in the southbridge for the actual data processing, then output the digital signal to a codec which does the conversion to analog to send to the sound jacks. There's only one codec used, which handles both the output and input (converting to digital to send to the southbridge). Some boards used to use a completely separate sound chip, disabling the AC'97 controller in the southbridge, and the codec was integrated into the sound chip which also did the audio processing (many came with the SoundBlaster PCI128 for example). But in both cases there's still only one codec on the board.

I found one reference to an MSI board with capabilities for two concurrent codecs. But naturally the moment I want to go look at MSI's site I can't load it. Okay got it now. The K7N2. I think they're the only ones touting this as anything special. I think what it means is you can use both an audio codec, and an ACR modem. The ACR modem uses the AC'97 controller in the chipset to process the analog dialup connection (basically acts as a software modem). That's why it mentions the AC'97 controller, because the one controller is responsible for both the sound output and the modem functions, which are just another type of sound processing. All chipsets with an AC'97 controller allow this, it's part of the specification, but not all motherboards have an ACR slot (or AMR or CNR slot) to make use of it.