*Official* Ivy Bridge for HTPCs Thread - Page 9

OK, I confused Intel with AMD. DP with a DP-HDMI adapter supports the following audio formats:

AMD Radeon graphics since HD 5xxx

- With a passive adapter: Multichannel LPCM, DD, DTS, DD+, TrueHD, DTS-HD (i.e. DP = HDMI exactly)
- With an active adapter: Multichannel LPCM, DD, DTS, DD+

Intel HD Graphics (SNB, IVB) (I checked with Celeron G530+ASRock Z68 Pro3-M)

- With a passive adapter: No video / audio (i.e. Intel DP does not support dual-mode)
- With an active adapter: Multichannel LPCM, DD, DTS, DD+

Supported audio formats over DP vary with the mb, as seen in DH77EB manual. BTW

- Passive adapter means DP sends HDMI signals and the adapter converts HDMI by simple pin arrangement (hence such an adapter is cheap).



- Active adapter converts DP signals to HDMI signals by a chip in the adapter (hence expensive)

On the other hand, DVI with DVI-HDMI adapter of ASRock Z68 Pro3-M is identical with HDMI in every respect. Again this may vary with the mb. But I am pretty sure DVI with DVI-HDMI adapter of every ASRock mb is identical with HDMI.
Edited by renethx - 3/29/13 at 10:12am

Including Audio ??? Do they do something special to DVI for audio?

With a DVI-HDMI adapter, DVI port (of most PC motherboards, except for Intel-brand ones) sends HDMI signals. The pins in single-link DVI are mapped 1-1 to the pins in HDMI, like this. There is nothing strange. Technical details.

Similarly with a passive DP-HDMI adapter, DP port supporting *dual-mode* (AMD supports dual-mode, Intel does not) sends HDMI signals. The pins in DP are mapped 1-1 to the pins in HDMI (as stated in my previous post). An active DP-HDMI adapter actually converts DP signals to HDMI signals with the built-in chip.
Edited by renethx - 3/29/13 at 10:34pm

Interesting. Didn't know (care about) that before. Thanks for enlightening me. So it might be worth a try with that Asrock Q77m board. If that works, which component would be providing the Audio, Intel HDMI audio, or realtek?

Actually, I have enough boards lying around here (all Intel Mobos). But since Intel is leaving (has left) the consumer PC market I was looking for alternatives. Before completely abandoning Intel I came across this board because it could have the potential to replace all of my PCs: HTPC, desktop, server. It has all the right components (INtel NIC, CIR, 6x Sata on board...)

Right now, I'm looking to replace a DH55TC/DH57DD for server use and am playing around with 5+1 disks. The question being, is the power savings achieved by using series 6/7 boards over series 5 boards worth the money spent.

HDMI audio is coming from Intel's own HD audio controller.

ASRock's CIR is different from Intel's (check the manual). MSI Z77A-GD55, ~$125, is another choice (Z77, dual PCI Express 2.0 x8 slot, Intel Gb LAN), but without CIR header.

Power consumption varies with the CPU and the mb. I have Core i3-540+ASRock H55 Extreme3 currently running, comparing with Core i3-3225+ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, it consumes 5-10W more at idle.

That's about the same I see here between a DH57DD i3-540 vs DH67GD i3 2125 (5-10W) and DH77EB i3-3225 (maybe another 2-5W). each running the basic OS off a 2,5" disk. ( a seagate momentus.xt 750GB hybrid. nice little thing, silent, fast).
Server2012 does a great job at power management BTW. It even manages to hide the ugly/useless phone type display from you.

Re. CIR: well it's the same chip (nuvoton) with a different pinout-connector on the mobo and I have a diy IR receiver (a tsop, an R and a C total cost <5€), so I'm pretty sure I'll get it to work there too :-).
Edited by Robin Mitra - 3/30/13 at 2:49pm

Update:
Got the board (ASROCK Q77m-vPRO)
1. HDMI via DVI OK
2. CIR OK
3. 23p ---> 23,972Hz ( as expected), a lot smoother than the 24.00x i get on the DH77EB, and yes, on my TV I do notice it, even though I'm not that sensitive)

Using it as a Server now:
CPU: i3-2125
Mem: 8GB kingston value 1333
1 x WD 2.5" 320GB HDD OS: Server 2012
5 x Hitachi 5K3000 2TB HDD RST Raid 5
1 x Dual PT1000 server NIC (will be running VMs on this one, will add more RAM then)

Power consumption
IDLE: 32 W (29 w/o the extra NICs) disks spin down
IDLE: 50W (disks still spinning)
Disk access (NAs medai etc) 58- 63W
Max: (boot, wake from sleep) 115W

The PSU isn't the best, a BQT Pure power 380W, Bronze, 4 years old. I'll probably replace it with a BQT E9 400W Gold.