Re: HTPC configurations.
OMFG! That's some "HTPC" ya got there Lanurd!
I received my AV-710 the other day. The drivers on the CD are way old, and the ones available at the Chaintech site, while newer, are still not as new as what's available at the Via site.
The "control panel" included with the drivers is pretty minimal. There are no controls for bass, treble, or environmental sounds, strictly volume and input/output. I'm using the Winamp EQ for sound settings with no problems.
The card will do playback at 96KHz in stereo mode, which sounds really great through the SPDIF optical connection to my Onkyo TX-SR500 receiver and Axiom speakers.
It won't play back this high in 5.1 though. The 5.1 from DVD's still sounds much more detailed and crisp than the onboard sound from my Biostar M7NCG-400, even though I was using an optical connection.
I've read numerous reviews of this card where people complained about performance hits during gaming. I bought the card strictly for music and video playback, and it's a steal at the price!
DFI nF4 Expert / 0406BTA Bios/ AMD64 3800+ X2 / 4 Pipe Stock Cooler / 2x1Gb OCZ5001024ELGE (UCCC) / OCZ GXS600W PSU /Lian-Li PC65b / ATi Radeon X800 / NEC ND3550 DVD/CD-RW / 2 x 160Gb Hitachi SATA RAID-O / WDC WD800JB 80Gb IDE
Biostar T-Force 560+/ RH N56BAA09 bios / AMD 4000+ Brisbane AM2 / Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro / Patriot DDR2-800 2x1Gb PDC22G6400ELK / Sapphire HD3650 / Seagate 250Gb SATA-II ST3250410AS / Optiarc DVD-RW AD-7240S