first of all, great site guys

ok heres what im using, Vista Home Premium 64bit with sp1
Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard which has a realtek ALC883 sound chip (a 7.1 chip but its limited to 5.1 on this board as standard) im using the Coax output on the back which is contected to my 5.1 sound system. and im using the R1.89 realtek HD audio driver codec (have tryed R1.88,R1.87a,R1.87, and the ones that came with the motherboard R1.57)

Now hes the problem, i can only get 5.1 sound when i play a DVD in WMP, Media center and the realtek digital out put test works too. But when i try playing games (crysis,call of duty 4 and so on) im stuck with dolby pro logic 2.1 and i also can't seem to see the digital output on the realtek manager either no matter what version i use. also the jack info seems a little odd to me.

Please help im running out of idea


here what i see on the realtek manager

I didn't even know that they came out with R1.89 (3/18/08).
I used 1.80 off my mobo disc.
I'll let you know if i can help you..just downloading 1.89 and damn their servers are slow.

ok, I just installed 1.89, and it sounds really good.
I attached a screen shot of mine...might help you.
My audio is from my mobo via optical digital cable output to input (DVD in) AMP 7.1

Thanks grimreaper, it seems that my jack infomation is alot different to yours, and im still not sure that jack info on mine is right (im guessing it should look like yours) but i don't know how to change it? and also the front audio ports are saying they have things plugged into them when there not, i've tryed disconnecting the front audio ports from the motherboard, but they still come up as having things plugged into them anyone got any idea?

also the fact im using a DVI to HDMI for my monitor, won't affect it would it?

I think I found the problem...read below:
RE:ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard

This motherboard uses a 7.1 audio codec, Realtek ALC883, it only provides 5.1 audio on its analog outouts, since it only has three audio jacks on its rear panel. This codec provides a low (for today’s standards) signal-to-noise ratio for its inputs – only 85 dB. So it is not advisable to use this motherboard for professional audio capturing and editing (the minimum recommended for this application is 95 dB), unless you install a professional add-on audio card on it. Also the maximum sampling rate for its inputs is of 96 KHz, while its outputs supports up to 192 KHz. The signal-to-noise ratio for its output is of 95 dB.

This board has one coaxial SPDIF output soldered directly on the motherboard, which is great as you can easily connect it to your home theater receiver.

This motherboard has only three jacks for the analog audio connection, which is a problem, because if you want to use a set of analog 5.1 speakers together with a mike you will need to manually remove and install plugs on the rear of your computer, as the mic in and center/subwoofer functions share the same jack. Also because of this you can't use 7.1 analog speakers with this motherboard, even though it uses a 8-channel codec.

Hope this helps!

thanks grimreaper, looks like i'll be buying a sound card soon then

Originally Posted by Iain_Skyflier

thanks grimreaper, looks like i'll be buying a sound card soon then

kinda funny you say that cause i have a nice one 4 sale on ebay if interested.
Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1

yea i've been looking at the creative x-fi cards but only this one

Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-Express - OEM - Ebuyer

has the output's i need, and i can't find the I/O dongel for sale anywhere to use the other, and one got any surgestions on a good cheap ish soundcard with optical or digital coax output on ?