So, the GeForce 9800 series were officially released today. They are quite expensive (400-600USD). The pictures pretty clearly show an HDMI port on the card. For the HTPC users out there, does anyone know if these cards will run both video and HD audio through the HDMI port?

The ability to run one HDMI cable from my PC to my Receiver for 1080p video and HD audio would make the HTPC a better solution in my book than my PS3, so if anyone knows please let me know.

They do, yes, but you can also do it with the 9600GT, which is significantly cheaper. However, they only take SPDIF input, which means that it probably won't run HD audio through the card.

My bet is it won't. From the reading I have done, passing HD audio through involves the implementation of more hdcp specifically for the audio stream.

I suspect that, like video hdcp it is non trivial and will not happen until there are a lot more people out there buying bluray players of one sort or another.

Is there anything in the specs regarding HD audio?

You can check out this review.

Benchmarks

I read it. SPDIF out only so its not HD audio.

"includes native HDMI video output and offers digital audio output through the attached S/PDIF audio cable, making this the closest thing to fully-functional native HDMI that NVIDIA offers."

Hmmmmm, I see an increase in terrabyte hard drives on the rise. Maybe I should buy some Maxtor stock.

Sounds like AMD/ATi might have what you're looking for. I know they do audio straight to HDMI, but I don't know if it's HD Audio. Try poking around other review sites.

In any case, there's no way I would use a 9800 in an HTPC. Too big, too hot. Unless you're planning on using it for serious (and I mean serious, as in you've got a 2650p TV) gaming, there's no point.

I agree, it's serious overkill for a HTPC. Except........See the end.

Cheaper Route if you have a 5.1 sound card already. Many PCs now have them on board.
Look for an older card that has a DVI port. My old Nvidia 7900 is probably less than $100 today, and it did 1080i. Add a DVI to HDMI adapter or cable and your set.

The 7900 is still a bad choice though as it was a power hungry SOB. Required two power cables from your power supply, on separate rails! However, if you were not doing MAD 3d gaming, it would run fine on just one power plug, for just video processing.

By the time the copy-write stuff is added into the mix to make the DVI part an issue, there will, hopefully, be a better card that is more suitable for the Hi Def, HTPC market. One that doesn't charge the premium for it's 3D prowess, if you don't need it.

However, after thinking harder for a second.....If you had to invest in:
a new sound card anyways to upgrade to multi-channel,
a new video cards as well for HD video,
plus add a DVI to HDMI adapter or cable.....

Suddenly the price tag of the simple solution 9800 actually becomes more interesting.

Bah! Just wait for the mobo with all the HD stuff on board. Given the preasure on AMD to distinguish itself and their recent mobo graphics releases, it might just happen.

Yeah, but the 9600GT has the same features for 1/2 the price!

AMD Employees are much nicer people too!

You know who you are!

I think I've found confirmation that the Radeon HD 3850/3870 will pass bitstream HD audio at the very least with no additional cabling. (if bitstream is the non-decoded version). Link

[RAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!!!]
From the link:
To the best of my knowlege, neither the 2400 or 2600 were able to do hardware decoding of VC1 or H.264 so this confuses me. In my months of reading reviews, spec sheets etc. there is nothing out there, that I have found, that supports this. Were these not bases on the 690g chipset??


English is a grand language it allows you as much or as little specificity as you desire. It is sometimes hard to dedcide if a lack of specificity is by design or deliberate.

Saying you can "connect HDMI towards your tv", by the way, gramatically tells you you don't need to connect the TV/diplay end to anything. Just point it in that general direction and you will get sound from your display. "through a TrueHD/Dolby HD receiver" means you can pass SOMETHING through a TrueHD/ Dolby HD (note the lack of MA) receiver, but tells us absolutely nothing about what. The statements however IMPLY but the use of TrueHD/DolbyHD that they MAY pass the new HD audio streams.

If the author had been able/willing to be a little more concise he could have simply told us that this card is able to pass ONLY 16-bit PCM Stereo sound or AC3 5.1 compressed multi-channel audiostreams as Dolby Digital and DTS, left all the GOBLDYGOOK out and moved on to the primary topic of the review: video performance.

So, we are back to where we were a few posts back by looking directly at the ATI specs. It has audio capability built in and it passes some Audio, though not the HD stuff we sooooooo much desire it to.

[/RAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!!!]

I feel better now...

or alternatively

There, now I am ready to go in for 4 hours of Saturday production support. "What to you mean you dropped the %*@***!! $600 scanner again!!! No, you can't have another one. Now write it all out by hand and enter it into the database later"

Need coffee...

OK, ok... I don't know if anything will pass it, then. Those are supposed to be the best ones on the market. The 2400 and 2600 were video cards, so definitely not based on the 690g chipset, which had a video chip based on earlier video cards. The 2400 and 2600 were based on the 2900, but that did not have the HD stuff built in for some unknown reason.

>>To the best of my knowlege, neither the 2400 or 2600 were able to do hardware decoding of VC1 or H.264 so this confuses me. In my months of reading reviews, spec sheets etc. there is nothing out there, that I have found, that supports this. Were these not bases on the 690g chipset??

The HD2400, 2600, 34xx, 36xx and 38xx (RV610, RV630, RV620, RV635 and RV670 respectively) all have the UVD block which does hardware decoding of VC1 and H.264. The HD2900 (ie the R600) was the only HD2xxx part which did not have the UVD block.

UVD is primarily about power saving and reducing CPU load for laptop-type configurations -- plugging in any of the high end GPUs (ours or the other guys) is like twisting the +12V and ground wires together anyways, so saving a bit of power on video playback just didn't justify making the die any bigger.

The 690 is one generation older -- it has most of the HD2xxx display controller logic but no UVD and a 3D engine from the X700 family. If you want a comparable IGP part to the HD2xxx/HD3xxx parts you need to compare with the new 780, not the 690.

I'm pretty sure there is some "AVIVO" blurb which talks about both UVD and the proprietary video processing stuff on the ATI section of amd.com -- I can try to dig it up if you like.

All of the HD2xxx and HD3xxx parts have a built in HD Audio controller which feeds directly into the HDMI connector. Not sure if audio works over a DVI-to-HDMI dongle -- I think it should but it may need a specific dongle to work.

AFAIK the HD Audio controllers can accept any audio information which can be carried over the HDMI protocol but I don't know that for sure -- will see what I can dig up.

It does need the specific dongle from what I know.

Oh yeah, we've got an AMD employee around... sometimes. Welcome back, John. Stay awhile.

Too much reading, too little memory... sigh.

Its nice to hear some stuff striaght from the source. It will be interesting to see what you dig up John.

I'm sure someone is gonna figure this stuff out and I think AMD/ATI is one step ahead at the moment.

I'm actually just rebuilding my HTPC. I'm getting either the 2600XT or 3650. Leaning towards the 3650 though. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether to go with the DDR2 or DDR3 version. From what I read the DDR2 version was more than enough for watching Blu Ray. But thinking long...er term would I be better off with the DDR3 version of the card.

I just ordered my Zalman 160B HTPC case. I was trying to decide between the Silverstone LC17 and the Zalman. I like the nice clean look of the Silverstone but I really don't need two optical drives. So went with the Zalman.

THis is a really good guide.

Guide to Building an HTPC - AVS Forums

There's no reason to get a 2600XT, or DDR2 on a video card. I'd still be leaning towards a 3850--they're dirt cheap, and very capable cards.

Well here a 2600XT or 3650 is about $75 cheaper than a 3850. Most 3850's up here go for about $200. I can get a 2600Xt for about $100.

Yowch. I still wouldn't touch a 2600XT.