Video card with audio over HDMI for Win XP Pro

[DesiPower]

I know there are several cards out there that have HDMI output and can do audio over HDMI (I guess there is a built in sound card?), but which ones of these will work well with XP? I have read in several reviews that most of them don't work well will XP and are good with 7 only. Does anyone here have any experience with audio over HDMI with windows XP? Budget is as low as possible... planning to spent $50 or so, 75 max.


Back Story

I recently resuscitated my old, once dead, Pentium D 945 box, slapped in two 1TB HDDs and using it as a budget HTPC. HULU NETFLIX and Youtube mainly. I have a 9500GT and I am connecting it to a Sony 46" HDTV TV through VGA. The TV has a separate 3.5mm audio input associated with the VGA input, so I am connecting audio through it.

I want to connect the TV through HDMI port primarily because, there is another TV about 20' away and I want to direct input to it too at will using a switch. I have tried to use the DVI to HMDI cable but it obviously does not carry audio and I have to turn external speakers on. Also I was not satisfied with the picture quality, not sure if it was the cable...

 

[Andres3605]

I used an ATI 4850 in xp for a while and everything worked just fine, including audio over HDMI.

 

[hdfxst]

I used a 4830 and 5850 with xp and had no problems with sound over hdmi.

 

[Zap]

I have a 9500GT... I have tried to use the DVI to HMDI cable but it obviously does not carry audio

9500 GT does not have built-in audio. You will need to use an SPDIF passthrough from your motherboard (needs onboard headers) and then a DVI to HDMI adapter that supports audio. After that, you can use a normal HDMI cable and you should get audio.

 

[DesiPower]

my mobo does not support SPDIF, and sounds like too much hassle.. will go for a new card. BTW, how do you know which cards can do audio over HDMI? what feature should I look for?

 

[hdfxst]

I think all HD radeons have on board sound.you just install the driver and switch the output in windows to ATI hd audio