Fair play. I didn't think I had anything to worry about (watercooling and reasonable volts are as far as I plan on taking anything), but I figured it was worth checking. Besides, with "The VK Seal of Approval", I feel a lot more comfortable!
Internal ports are generally for connecting case sockets and other such lovelies (as well as allowing you to pass your sound through your graphics hard if you want to use HDMI). I don't know for sure which exact card you have got, but I have a Xonar D2X, so even if it isn't this one, the setup should be similar; If you are using 2.1, then yes, you want to plug in to the green jack. Some setup is also required in software (or at least there was for me): In your Sound section of the control panel, you should have two "Speakers" (and one S/PDIF). Try configuring both "Speakers", and you should find one that has all the different surround setups available, while the other will only have one. Make the one with more choices your default one. Configure for 2.1. Pretty easy. Now, with the Audio Center installed, you want to open it and expand the bottom. Obviously you want "2 Channels", PCM 96KHz is fine, and you clearly want analogue out to be "2 Speakers". After this you should be set. You might even find all this done by default, but I had a little trouble myself when I bought mine, so figured the help might be useful to some. Even if you don't have 2.1, the setup in Control Panel is basically the same, just with different selections. The Audio Center makes all changes in real time, so if you can't figure out why something is not working, it always helps to have a fiddle until you hear some music. Oh, and don't forget to use Pro Logic and the other little extras, they make a hell of a difference! Just enable Music or Game mode and you should hear quite a difference!
Its that time for FML with your host crash, So all excited got home went to install it straight away, opened everything up looked at the shiny's (I must say Asus you excel on packing both on this and the GTX285 has superb packing), Only to find when trying to get it into my EVGA mobo that.... Yes it hits the Ram modules at the end, So I though I know I will move the ram to the other slots thus meaning I will only ever have 2 slots of RAM. But oh no EVGA had even better plans, it appears that once the card is seated and the pc booting the extra power the card requires is blocked by the white clip for the RAM. EVGA Motherboard designers really have outperformed them this time I was able to see the LED's that one time I had it booted, They looked very nice and made me all warm and fussy inside. But alas It looks like I will need to fork out for a new Mobo in the coming months to use this card FML
Well you can stick a PCIe x1 card in a PCIe x16 slot, so if you have any graphics card slots free, you can chuck it in there with no issue (assuming there is room around for it etc). Obviously not a perfect solution, but at least you will be able to use the soundcard until you do get a replacement motherboard (assuming you still end up doing so).
Woo!!! A very nice treat to come home to! I like the bonus content too. Thanks to everyone again for the terrific competition! Whens the next?
Yes. The slot will just run as a PCIe x1 slot instead, and the card will function normally. Obviously, it's a bit of a waste, but if it lets you use the soundcard, and you don't need the slot for a graphics card, then there really is no reason not to.
another question: if i put it into the 2nd x16 slot on my Asus P7P55D Deluxe, is it going to auto switch to x8x8 mode? i don't want that do i?
It won't hurt the 260 wuyan, maybe a 5850 or something with a little more substance but running in 8x mode on the pci2.0 slot means you have 16x speed on a standard pci-e in terms of bandwidth. Ie plenty lol. I can only really see cards such as the gtx295, 5870/5970 havig any hit to be fair. Andy
Well, in general you have nothing to worry about running a VGA on an x8 PCIe slot. What card is it? Unless you are running something like a 4870X2/GTX295/5970 then you shouldn't notice any difference. But yes, you are correct in it running in x8 x8 mode once you install the soundcard.
I had a thought that i would have to arrange a redelivery, I was so sure I would of placed a bet. Got home and the nice kind man had been and someone was in, to receive it. Installed it and wow. I've always been of the opinion that audio is audio no matter what, and that onboard audio is fine. That has now changed and I need to purchase a better headset and replace my 2.1 Logitech speakers with something a bit better. Thanks VK and Asus
installed the card right under the graphics card, hope it won't fry. thanks for those who responded, looks like i'll stay away from that slot in the future, on my next graphics card update. wow, although i can't hear the difference now, but i totally love the Dolby Virtual Speaker setting. it makes my room feel like it is filled with 5.1 instead of my cheap Creative 2.1. looks like it's time to invest in a good headphone.
If you have never tasted decent audio before now's the time to try. I'm far from the most demanding when it come to it (I have not even got the £10,000 CAT5 cable yet), but I dont understand how people put up with onboard and naff speakers.
indeed, after doing some tweaking, the difference is night and day! played a game of MW2 dominations, and found all the special effects sounds a lot better, and i can hear the rumoured footsteps over game's announcement voice which i've never heard before. did the following tweaks in audio center: set to 8 audio channels (so the game uses them), set sampling to 192Khz (because i can), set analogue out to 2 speakers (or however many you've got) and enable Dolby Virtual Speaker. now you'll have simulated sound from the back, makes a £20 2.1 speaker feel like £50 5.1. as much as i like shinny things, wish there is a way to disable the LED's...... or a way to select the ones manually, so it is easy to plug in yet isn't very distracting when the PC is on the desk, rainbow is next to the monitor.
Haven't got mine yet as I need to go to the sorting office but I'm giving it to a good friend of mine. The ASUS motherboard I have doesn't have enough room for me to install this soundcard as the only other PCIexpress slot is above the x16 slot. Theres a sodding northbridge heatsink in the way
