Geforce 9800GT audio through HDMI

[elw00d451]

Hi. I'm finally getting around to turning my old Dell E520 E6320 (core2duo)processor, 3GB RAM (win7 64bit) into a home theatre PC but ran into an issue getting sound to pipe through HDMI. I'm using a ZOTAC ZT-98GES3M-FSL GeForce 9800 GT 512MB and a Creative Labs SB0790 PCI Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio card (model SB0790). Looks like I need to connect an SPDIF cable from the video card to the sound card. Here's where I need the help:

1. Where can I get a replacement cable? I think my cat ate the old one and since I didn't have a TV at the time - I never bothered with getting a replacement. I've tried getting a replacement since then and it looks like this card uses a special (wider/fatter) plug for the SPDIF in. Nobody seems to have the exact cable I need.

2. How do I connect this to the SoundBlaster sound card? If I had the cable, I'd still be lost on how to hook it up to the sound card. I can't find a manual for the SB0790 and I have no idea what the pin outs are.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've been working on this as a home theatre PC forever and I finally have everything in place ... it's just down to getting audio thru the HDMI cable now. I would seriously appreciate the hell out of anyone who could point me in the right direction or noob walk me through it.


Thanks!!!

 

[mauller07]

have a look at this tutorial, it does not matter if the signal comes from your soundblaster or motherboard since the signal is digital and all conversion will be done at the endpoint (tv or av receiver)

 

[elw00d451]

have a look at this tutorial, it does not matter if the signal comes from your soundblaster or motherboard since the signal is digital and all conversion will be done at the endpoint (tv or av receiver)

This actually gets more frustrating. I thought the DELL E520 motherboard had an SPDIF out port, but it doesn't. There's a spot on the motherboard for it, but DELL didn't put in the hardware. Doesn't look like the sound card allows for it in any fashion either. I tracked down a suspicious group of pins on the sound card that I thought might do it, but yeah they're actually for the Intel Audio Header.

Ugh, I hate to admit defeat but ... yeah, looks like I'm going to just replace the vid card, maybe something like a single slot ATI 7850. Should be comparable to a 9800GT.

For future viewers, I found the cable I needed for my ZOTAC 9800GT btw on EBAY. It's a 3 pin white plug w/2 mboard pin connections, part #: 146-00707-0000F

"ZOTAC Video Graphics Card 3Pin SPDIF Digital Audio Sound Cable 146-00707-0000F"

So before starting this journey yourself, check to make sure your motherboard supports SPDIF out, like mauller07 pointed out.