GTX460SE - Control Panel and Sound Issues: Last Straw

[Gene Starwind]

Hello. There's a problem I have been having for nearly two years now, and this is with the GTX 460 SE. Believe me, I've searched so many forums and so many search results for both this, and the next problem I'll explain later. (Actually, in a sense they're both linked.) Now, the first is that I can't actually see nearly any options in the control panel.

Since the first occurrence of this I must have reformatted a few times, and I've course, I've tried the obvious solutions such as third party software to nuke traces of drivers, installing old driver versions, etc. Despite not being able to access the control panel, I can still play all of my games okay, but I think the troubles I've had with 3D are to do with this. I've been able to play 3D videos in the past but it was troublesome. And yes, I have 120Hz monitors.

I now own a projector and I'm using a one-input/two-output HDMI splitter so I can play Steam games on the projector, which is in a different room. Two ports of the card are being used. One is DVI which is used for the secondary monitor, and HDMI which connects to the splitter, which connects to the main monitor and the projector. The video displays fine. I can only get audio on my speakers however, which obviously is no good being in a different room. I tried a lot of the workarounds, including deleting drivers and manually updating to the Nvidia HDMI drivers in their folder. When I said it relates to the control panel, it's that one of the workarounds I saw mentioned changing the HDMI audio settings in the control panel which I cannot access.

So, this is it. I'd appreciate it if any of you can help me, but it is looking hopeless now. I've been able to play games but with limited functionality, and now with this audio problem which I've seen so many others complain about, I think this may well be the end of the line for my relationship with Nvidia. My computer is a mini tower. It has served me well for a few years and I think it can still pack a punch. The card handles all games I've thrown at it with high settings, but with this projector problem, I'm thinking about ATI. But, with it being a mini tower, I need to get something around the size or smaller of the GTX 460 SE.

Thanks for reading this wall of text. If you can help I'll try out any suggestions before making my choice to "upgrade".

 

[Gene Starwind]

What do you guys think about this card? http://www.ebuyer.com/501730-gigabyte-radeon-hd-7790-overclocked-1gb-graphics-card-pci-e-dvi-hdmi-displayport-ga-gv-r779oc-1gd

From what I've read, it seems quite a lot better than the GTX 460 SE. And I'm pretty sure it won't have the HDMI sound problems that Nvidia have received many complaints about. The reason I've chosen this over other 7790s is because it seems to be okay size-wise (the GTX 460 SE only just fit inside the case) and other 7990s sometimes had far higher power requirements. My PSU is a Corsair 430W one. This apparently has a 450W minimum requirement, but I'm pretty sure my GTX requirement is over that anyway.

I'd really appreciate your input. The whole control panel thing I can live with, but sound over HDMI is a requirement. I can't believe Nvidia hasn't fixed this!