Hook my GA-7VT600 F8 AC 97 to my surround sound system

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Pete

I have a Gigabyte GA-7VT600 F8 motherboard with Realtek AC97 sound on it.
I also have a complete (higher end) surround sound system sitting next to it...

What would I need to connect this for games and DVD playback?

The outputs on my motherboard are just the 3 mini jacks.
My surround sound has every input imaginable.


Any suggestions on what I need, or what to do?

thanks
 
I have a Gigabyte GA-7VT600 F8 motherboard with Realtek AC97 sound on it.
I also have a complete (higher end) surround sound system sitting next to it...

What would I need to connect this for games and DVD playback?

The outputs on my motherboard are just the 3 mini jacks.
My surround sound has every input imaginable.


Any suggestions on what I need, or what to do?

thanks
Click to expand...

Assuming that board doesn't have digital output, a standard 3.5mm
stereo plug to dual male RCA jacks will work. You'll need two sets if
you want both input and output to motherboard, and another set if
there's a bass (subwoofer) output on the board too, and another for
rear channel. Those are handy cables to have, you might pick up a
half-dozen online for same price as a couple at a local store:

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=CB-42
 
If you don't mind forking out a little extra cash, try getting a sound card
that has optical out. The Fortissmo Hercules is a decent card and goes for
around $50? I personally have the Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum. The
advantage to doing this is the ability to get "true" dolby digital surround,
not pro-logic.
 
Pete said:
I have a Gigabyte GA-7VT600 F8 motherboard with Realtek AC97 sound on
it. I also have a complete (higher end) surround sound system sitting
next to it...

What would I need to connect this for games and DVD playback?

The outputs on my motherboard are just the 3 mini jacks. My surround
sound has every input imaginable.


Any suggestions on what I need, or what to do?

thanks
Click to expand...

I would consider getting a good sound card like the SoundBlaster Audigy
2 ZS to take full advantage of your sound system. Not only will you get
better sound but your CPU won't be overburdened by handling sound tasks
that onboard sound chips can't do.
 
Is there a limit to the length of an optical cable?

I would assume this would be toslink like my DVD player is?
 
Well yes there is, the longest I have seen in retail stores is 9 feet. I'm
sure you can get some longer tho if you look.
 
Pete said:
I have a Gigabyte GA-7VT600 F8 motherboard with Realtek AC97 sound on it.
I also have a complete (higher end) surround sound system sitting next to it...
What would I need to connect this for games and DVD playback?
The outputs on my motherboard are just the 3 mini jacks.
My surround sound has every input imaginable.
Click to expand...

There are 3 ways you can get surround sound:

1. Hook up 6 analog outputs from your computer system to the sound
system, usually using 3 stereo cables: L+R front, L+R rear,
Center+Sub. Set your software to output 6-channel discrete sound.

2. Hook up a single analog stereo cable, or a digital cable (coax or
optical), and set your software to output a form of 2-channel encoded
surround sound which your external decoder recognizes, e.g. like Dolby
Pro Logic. Separation not as good as discrete analog or digital
channels.

3. Hook up a digital cable (coax or optical), and set your software to
output 6-channel digital sound encoded in a form recognized by your
external decoder, probably Dolby Digital 5.1. Separation as good as 6
analog channels, but sound has to be compressed to fit within the max
data rate, and needs hardware DSP assistance to handle real-time
compression.

If you only have the 3 jacks on the back of your motherboard, check
your sound software to see if it supports 6-channel sound by
converting these 3 jacks from Line Out, Mic In, Line In to L+R front,
L+R rear, Ctr+Sub. Some motherboards have a separate connector to add
an optional rear-bracket extension with the L+R rear and Ctr+Sub jacks
so you don't have to give up Mic In and Line In. Some motherboards
support digital output as well, in which case the extension bracket
will also hook up to the SPDIF output on the motherboard and have coax
and/or optical connectors.

Game software that supports 3D surround sound prefers 6 discrete
channels. Some game software supports method 2 surround sound encoding
in real time. At present only systems using the nVidia MCP-T chip
support real-time Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding, so method 3 is probably
out for anything except passing through pre-encoded sound tracks (e.g.
from a DVD). Not all DVD player software supports this pass-through
though - some programs insist on down-mixing the 5.1 sound track to 2
channels.

My system has the extension bracket with both 6-channel analog and
digital coax+optical connectors. I hook up both the 6-channel analog
and digital coax connectors to the external decoder. I use 6-channel
analog for games, 2-channel digital for music (with Dolby Pro Logic II
surround sound effect created by the decoder from 2-channel input),
and 5.1 digital in pass-through mode for playing DVDs.
 
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