Do current NVidia cards have onboard sound

Petrolhead · 21 Jul 2018 at 21:41

I think the answer is yes but thought I would check

It appears in Windows Sound as Nvdia High Definition Audio.

So is this an onboard chip or is the sound fed from the Mobo onboard sound to the Nvdia and then out through HDMI

andy_mk3 · 21 Jul 2018 at 22:21

Yes is will passthrough audio over HDMI/DP

Sin_Chase · 21 Jul 2018 at 22:22

HDMI transports sound as well as video.

The card is just processing/passing the HDMI audio stream to whatever device is receiving it and playing it via speakers.

Petrolhead · 21 Jul 2018 at 22:57

So, to answer my specific question, it does have an onboard sound chip?

Sasahara · 21 Jul 2018 at 23:34

imginy · 21 Jul 2018 at 23:42

cms239 said:
So is this an onboard chip or is the sound fed from the Mobo onboard sound to the Nvdia and then out through HDMI

I think the answer is no to both. It doesn't have an audio chip and it doesn't use onboard sound.

HDMI is digital so it just puts out the raw audio from your game or video, an audio chip is not needed. It's your tv or reciever that decodes and plays it.

The audio chip on your motherboard is for plugging in analog stuff like headphones with phono cables.

Its my understandind of it anyway, I'm not expert someone else can confirm.

Rroff · 22 Jul 2018 at 05:51

cms239 said:
So, to answer my specific question, it does have an onboard sound chip?

There is no DAC on the graphics card - the monitor or another receiver on the other end of the HDMI cable has to convert the digital signal into sound - If I enable sound via the nVidia HD audio device on one monitor I get maximum 16bit 48KHz because that is what the DAC inside it is capable of, on the other I get 24bit 96KHz as it has a bit higher end DAC - using the same GPU.

All the GPU does it provide an interface between the DAC on the monitor and the software partially assisted by the CPU - there is some very basic processing of audio possible mostly done on the CPU.

To put some kind of proportions to it - HDMI audio via the GPU you have like 1/4 of a soundcard done via the GPU (probably a little less than that), 1/4 done via the CPU and the other half done on the monitor or other receiver.

fizzy · 25 Jul 2018 at 17:23

There is a sound chip on modern graphics cards of sorts. It's more a DSG (Digital Signal Generator?) in the graphics chip I believe. It generates audio as a digital signal which is sends across the HDMI/Displayport channels, and the receiving device (amp, tv or monitor) decodes it into audio you can hear. It's independant from any other sound device (whether on board or dedicated cards) and does not reroute from those.

In windows 10 it's easier to see as individual audio devices are listed and selectable - I've often had audio playing through my monitor (via displayport & gfx card) whilst different audio is playing through my normal sound card (or in my case, a USB DAC).

So you can't plug any traditional analoque cables into GFX card and an amp, but you can use the GFX card as a sound source for your TV over HDMI.

LuckyBenski · 25 Jul 2018 at 19:22

I don't believe there's any digital signal generation. I would presume the sound data is generated by the operating system or the game, passed to the sound driver which passes it to the audio device (in this case integrated into the HDMI / DP output system) as packets or samples. Then those packets are just packaged up along the HDMI connection.

So the sound "signal" is generated early on by its creator and just passed along.

fizzy · 25 Jul 2018 at 20:59

LuckyBenski said:
I don't believe there's any digital signal generation. I would presume the sound data is generated by the operating system or the game, passed to the sound driver which passes it to the audio device (in this case integrated into the HDMI / DP output system) as packets or samples. Then those packets are just packaged up along the HDMI connection.

So the sound "signal" is generated early on by its creator and just passed along.

More like a sound signal encapsulator then.

All I know for sure is that it's a separate device in windows and can be used independently of any other sound card or instead of. Not really looked into technical issue and any performance limitations as just using hdmi audio tends to be with media boxes anyway.

Panos · 25 Jul 2018 at 22:56

cms239 said:
I think the answer is yes but thought I would check

It appears in Windows Sound as Nvdia High Definition Audio.

So is this an onboard chip or is the sound fed from the Mobo onboard sound to the Nvdia and then out through HDMI

Depends. There is a compatibility issue with some monitors running since September 2016.
Check at the official forums. I can tell you XL2730Z doesn't work among other freesync monitors and they did work until September 2016 drivers.

Pocah · 26 Jul 2018 at 09:54

I wish I knew the answers, lol, I have been asking the same question for years. Few people seem to know whether it is a chip or just software.

I have an old PC and it will not work unless you have a sound card present

However, in more modern PC's it does work even if the sound card is missing.

I have no idea why this is so!

Rroff · 26 Jul 2018 at 10:34

Although the details are a little different on today's GeForce cards this gives some overview:

https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/gpu-hdmi-audio-document/

In most cases the OS provides an interface that is processed on the CPU which then hands off the raw digital data to the controller on the GPU which has a basic CODEC and converter that allows for some basic options before packing the data onto the HDMI stream and interfaces with the audio processor and audio DAC on the monitor - which in turn have an output stage that might allow muxing in from another source and/or may have a basic buffer or amplification stage sometimes using opamps.

fizzy · 26 Jul 2018 at 11:49

I've disabled my on board sound card in the bios some time ago, and audio still works through GFX and HDMI. Using a USB DAC now as my main sound device and again all still works through HDMI/Displayport. I'm using a 980ti, and windows 10 - could possibly depend on the card?

Pocah · 26 Jul 2018 at 12:08

fizzy said:
I've disabled my on board sound card in the bios some time ago, and audio still works through GFX and HDMI. Using a USB DAC now as my main sound device and again all still works through HDMI/Displayport. I'm using a 980ti, and windows 10 - could possibly depend on the card?

It's interesting because I tried that on an old PC ( first generation i5 ) and the hdmi wouldn't work without the sound card, but I just tried it on a slightly more modern PC ( third generation i5 ) and it did work without the sound card. The difference seemed to be Windows. On the older PC Windows didn't see the hdmi output as a sound output, so it disabled things like the volume control, but it did see it on the more modern PC and everything worked correctly. In both cases the sound card was the same 750ti.

mmj_uk · 26 Jul 2018 at 13:53

cms239 said:
So, to answer my specific question, it does have an onboard sound chip?

It just passes the digital audio information along the cable. A sound card today is basically a Digital-to-Analogue converter (DAC), it converts the digital signal to an analogue signal and then outputs it through analogue connectors. The graphics card just passes the digital signal along the cable and needs the display or something like a receiver to act as the DAC.

Rup · 26 Jul 2018 at 16:19

AFAIK in the old days of midi/adlib the the sound (music) was generated by the soundcard. Modern games use pre-recorded digital audio (eg speech/music) which is then just just sent by the GPU to the DAC and then speaker in your monitor/tv via hdmi/displayport.
You can plug speakers into a sound card but again it's just using the sound card's DAC to output to your speakers. The soundcard does not create the sound, it just passes it thru.

Randomface74 · 26 Jul 2018 at 16:20

No it just goes through the graphics card because that's what HDMI connects to.

AthlonXP1800 · 27 Jul 2018 at 19:58

Yes current Nvidia GPU cards since 2010 Fermi has onboard sound like on Nvidia Tegra GPUs as well as AMD current GPUs, APUs and Intel chipsets too. You really don't ever need sound card anymore as modern HDTVs and monitors since around 2007 has DisplayPort and HDMI ports that can process both video and audio with a single cable, also current Nvidia GPUs can process video and audio through ARC on AV receivers or soundbars for HDTVs. Old TVs, HDTVs and monitors with either VGA and DVI ports will need sound cards and PC speakers and microphone with USB or 3.5mm jacks to process audio separately.

Back in 2010 I used Creative Audigy X-Fi XtremeMusic soundcard that supported up to 7.1 channels with 24 bit and 192kHz, after upgraded to eVGA GTX 470 and tried HDMI cable for first time, I was very surprised how good sounds on Nvidia HD Audio was and then I removed Creative Audigy X-Fi XtremeMusic soundcard and old PC speaker bought back in 2000 so eVGA GTX 470 can process audio through HDMI to my HDTV speaker itself.

Just found Nvidia has document which audio formats Geforce GPUs supported:

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answ...ch-hdmi-audio-formats-do-nvidia-gpus-support?

Current Nvidia GPUs supported up to 8 channels sounds with up to with 24 bit and 192kHz and all Dolby audio formats.

Next gen Nvidia GPUs in September would see DVI ports gone replaced with USB-C style VirtualLink port and HDMI 2.1 ports supported eARC and up to 32 channels of uncompressed audios at 37Mbit per sec speed compared to HDMI 1.4's 8 channels with compressed audios at 1Mbit.

Padraig · 29 Jul 2018 at 23:42

Focusrite or Audient should partner with NVIDIA and put studio grade sound chips on top tier cards like the Titans or 1080ti's to make them more premium... lol