ATI Radeon HD 4600 & 4800 series support 7.1 channel HDMI audio! - Page 9

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=191096

Where was it confirmed? I see the box art boasting of the ambiguous "HDMI w/ 7.1 Audio" marketing jargon. But untill someone has plugged it into an HDMI receiver and confirmed it as working, there isn't really a true confirmation.

Any more info such as bit-stream or not, pricing...? Thanks

Sorry, I edited my original post as you were posting this. $199, but thats a distributer price. Local may be higher.

I don't have the card in hand, so can't test bitstream etc...

Please keep us update if you are going to pick one up. To me, the ONLY reason to get this is bit-stream. Since I am not gamer, only want bit-stream therefore I will get Asus Xonar HDMI1.3 instead. Thanks.

Will do. But I'm not sure what software would drive it in bitstream mode even if the card supported it... I don't think any of these cards ship with TMT, etc...

TMT is the only one confirm bit-stream with the Asus Xonar HDMI1.3 today. Since it is player restriction, we never know that what could happen Let's hope someone figure out a way to do that soon. Bottom line is I prefer one card that can take care my need instead of 2.

ATI would have to have a secure path in their drivers, and then work with Cyberlink and/or ArcSoft to help them hook into a secure path. Currently all implementations of a secure path are effectively proprietary due to an incomplete foundation in Vista (hence the ASUS Xonar coming with a custom version of TMT).

Yeah marketing jargon but thats better than 5.1
That's why I wrote 7.1 - not LPCM 7.1 , but in other way if it can do 7.1 digitally than it means LPCM 7.1 digitally too , because DD/DTS 7.1 doesn't exist (not talking about DD+ or DTS-HD), secure path or not - this is the other thing , we must wait for some tests

I don't even dream about HDMI 1.3 losseless audio formats in this card ...

This is only required for AACS encrypted content. None of the blu-ray content I am interested is protected by AACS. All I want is for an HD audio bitstream path for non-AACS protected content.

While that's the nice theory of it, the current practice of software vendors is to cap the content at 48KHz/16-bit, only with a custom version that satisfies the rules does it appear the vendors will allow full resolution. Further while it's nice for you that you don't need to concern yourself with AACS, the majority of users would, so we still need a legitimate solution.

Even if you want there's always the good AnyDVD HD that could give your consumer rights back.

I am already a customer. :-) Hence my comment about not caring about AACS encrypted content anymore.

Saw a link posted on another forum that the 4850 looks to be in stock at buy.com

http://www.buy.com/prod/radeon-4850-...208177814.html

Anyone seen any reviews yet?

oooh i'm interested in this too... I've seen reviews over the new NVIDIA core but nothing on regaurding the AMD 4800 series

Well, I called my distributor, and sure enough their systems are good. They have a powercolor 4850 reserved for me to pick up at $195 this afternoon...

The only issue is that my wife wants me to work on another project tonight... Ugh... :-)

Please post review when you can - thank you.

Looks like the have the Sapphire one in stock too, also for $195. I can't seem to find a pic of the sapphire one, though i assume it's the same cooler as all the others...

is heat going to be a problem with these? any passive models in the works? or which would be the quietest to go with? I'm think 4850 for now

I'm sure just a matter of time it will have passive cooler in these models.

From what I read, dual slot coolers are usually quieter than the single slot counterparts. Since the 4870, which would have a dual slot cooler, isn't out yet... can't really tell.

The 4850's single slot cooler looks to have had a slight redesign to where the hot air comes from, so it should better handle heat, afaik.

I'm pretty sure you can still remove the cooler and change the paste to get even lower temps from the GPU...

Who knows, though? Maybe some of the current aftermarket coolers can be applied to the 4850 as the layout of the card doesn't seem that different.

DON'T KNOW, THOUGH.

Would have to inspect a card more closely.

Pics of the 4850 sure make it appear that an affordable Accelero S1 passive cooler would fit perfectly.

Well, I didn't get a chance to pick up a 4850 yesterday, but should today. I am going out of town on a trip beginning wed., so I won't have much time for testing, but will give it a try.

The gigabyte GV-R485512H-B also just showed up in inventory, so that makes 3 kinds to choose from. I may go with the gigabyte model since I rather like their motherboards, but in any case the cooler on it looks identical to the rest.

The Asus model is also in the system, but no stock yet. Not a since 4870 to be found. I heard they may not show up until monday, which is cutting it close...

Excellent! Can you just confirm it is indeed 8 channels LPCM? But for bit-stream not sure how we can test it since software is the bottleneck today

MikeSM,

All launch cards for the 4800 series use the reference design. Other than the sticker on the fan shroud, don't expect to see any differences between cards from different vendors.

I won't have my card until tomorrow night or Thursday. If you do get to play with it tonight, I'm especially interested in finding out what they are using for audio driver support. I'm hoping to see audio integrated into Catalyst as opposed to the separate Realtek drivers they used last gen.

I will, but I doubt it's integrated into CCC, as the 8.6 drivers out there now don't seem to have in place either... That doesn't mean they are using the POS realtek drivers though. :-)

If you get it now, I assume you are using the disk's driver that come with it since ATI site does not has 4XXX driver yet, right?

Yes. None of the vendors have any documentation or drivers online yet.

Ok! I just picked up the Sapphire HD 4850. I am attaching some pictures of the packaging, contents etc... It comes with a HDMI->DVI converter, VGA->DVI converter, component adapter, 4 Pin to 6 Pin cable, S-video adapter, crossfire jumper, driver CD, etc... I apologize for the quality, photos are from my cell phone.


Feels heavy, so the heatsink seems pretty substantial.

I haven't installed it yet, but some probing on the driver CD clearly indicates it's an AMD HD audio driver, NOT Realtek.

More info later...