# Something I learned about GPUs with HD Audio



## Frag_Maniac (Dec 7, 2012)

I thought I'd share this because I've seen others with this problem, and in searching I finally found out what causes it. Bear with me if any of you already know this, because really there isn't much in the way of warnings about it.

We all know that many whom have bought GPUs with built-in HD Audio via HDMI have had problems of one sort or another right? The scope and variety of them can vary. Many of us have also read that it's best to disable onboard sound in the BIOS when you CAN get HDMI audio to work.

Did you know however that if you CAN'T get HDMI Audio to work, you run the risk of severe lockups in game, accompanied by loud audio stutter, if you leave the GPU's HD Audio device enabled in Device Manager?

Many probably assume it's fine to leave it as is because Windows will only let you enable one sound device as the default. Well I'm here to tell you that those whom went into Device Manager and disabled the sound device not set as the default have reported no more in game freezes.

The problem often doesn't show until well into a gaming session, so it can have the appearance of being mere overheating, memory leaks, or any one of many other possibilities. 

I had OCed my i7 950 to 4GHz, getting excellent results in Prime95 on just 1.3v, so I assumed I was not giving the CPU enough voltage when I got these lockups after a long session, since many use 1.35 @ 4GHz with this CPU. 

The lockups were merely due to two sound devices being enabled in Device Manager though. The reason I never get the lockups running Prime95 is obviously because there's no audio running at the time.


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## erixx (Dec 7, 2012)

Weird. I have half a dozen audio devices and the only problem I have is that the X-Fi sometimes mutes the speakers even when no headphone is plugged in.

HDMI audio, never had a problem, it is fantastically simple as a backup audio devide and could well be the only device for many people, eliminating the need for onboard sound or discrete audio cards.


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## Mussels (Dec 7, 2012)

this sounds like a false positive to me. if you're on an OC'd system, the crashes are random. so this doesnt really rule anything out.


i have about 5 sound devices enabled, and have no issues (onboard, digital, USB, BT, headset)


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 7, 2012)

Mussels said:


> this sounds like a false positive to me. if you're on an OC'd system, the crashes are random. so this doesnt really rule anything out.
> 
> 
> i have about 5 sound devices enabled, and have no issues (onboard, digital, USB, BT, headset)



It's not an OC issue. It has also happened at only 3.2GHz and even stock OC speeds and is not the typical screen freeze but rather accompanied with a loud audio stuttering sound as I said.

It also could very well have to do with whether or not the MB itself tolerates more than one audio device being enabled. I've read for instance some ASUS MBs do not support multichannel PCM pass through. Which may be why I can never get HDMI Audio to be configurable as more than just stereo in the Windows sound panel when it actually DOES show up as plugged in and ready for use. I also noticed it's when I disable onboard audio and uninstall the Realtek onboard driver that it DOES show up as plugged in and ready for use.


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## 3870x2 (Dec 7, 2012)

I have HDMI problems where the audio is just not recognized, and the cause is that the drivers for ATI are just horrible.

A restart usually fixes the problem, but it is very annoying.


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## techtard (Dec 7, 2012)

I disable the hd-audio built into my video cards as a matter of habit, same goes for all the extra processes or unused hardware. 

It may be the placebo effect, but doing so eases my mind with regards to Windows and any weird conflicts that may arise.


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## BlackOmega (Dec 7, 2012)

3870x2 said:


> I have HDMI problems where the audio is just not recognized, and *the cause is that the drivers for ATI are just horrible.*
> 
> A restart usually fixes the problem, but it is very annoying.



I'd have to disagree with that. I've run a multitude of ATi video cards that use HDMI audio and have never had an issue. Cards I've ran with HDMI audio 5850's (about 4 total), 5870's (4 or 5), 6870's (2), 6950's (4 total), 6970's (2).

 No issues with any of them and the audio. When I plug them in to a device with audio output, such as our main plasma TV, it automatically enables the sound via the HDMI cable. 

 The only time I've disabled other audio devices is when I have my XFi Xtreme music hooked up. Not that it poses an issue, it's just that the OS defaults other audio devices to the primary.

 For what it's worth, I've also ran a multitude of Nvidia cards with HDMI and have never had an issue with them either. 



 OP, you said your OC is P95 stable; how long did you run it for? Note, P95 doesn't completely rule out instability. There's other testing methods, such as Folding @ Home, that are also good at finding errors. 
 If you didn't run P95 for _at least_ 24 hours, I wouldn't deem it stable, especially if you've overclocked the memory. Memory errors tend to be found after the 14 hour mark. 
 Note that memory errors are the only ones that can corrupt an OS. 

 One more question, when was the last time you checked stability? Overclocking can and will lead to chip degradation. While it may have been stable 3 months ago, it may very well not be stable now.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 7, 2012)

What part of happens even without an OC did you not get and/or read?

As for the built-in HD Audio in GPUs thing, I've seen enough people mentioning problems with it to think at the very least it's a thing where the right combo of components, internal and external, determine whether you have success or not, but to sit there and imply it always works when so many have had issues with it is not seeing the big picture. Then there's the fact that ever since MS raped Windows of HAL, things in the PC audio world have been more hit and miss than before.

I'll throw this rule of thumb out there just to clarify my meaning of this whole post. If you are of average or above PC expertise and after numerous gleanings on workarounds and several attempts and failures to get HDMI audio working properly it still fails, then by all means, disable it in Device Manager to avoid any potential problems, because after all, you can't use it anyway if it doesn't work, right? It's as simple as that really.


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## BlackOmega (Dec 7, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> *What part of happens even without an OC did you not get and/or read?*


 


I read it. What part of if your system _was_ overclocked and already corrupted the OS don't you understand? 
 At that point it doesn't matter if you set it _back_ to stock or not because it'll _still_ be corrupted.

 Besides, you didn't answer any of my questions regarding your stress procedure/regimen.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 7, 2012)

The OS isn't corrupted and I ran the test plenty long. You just seem to assume a lot.


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## BlackOmega (Dec 7, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> The OS isn't corrupted and I ran the test plenty long. You just seem to assume a lot.



 I don't, you provide vague, at best, information. Therefore, don't be surprised when people want to know more. I suppose I could just be like, it's your f*ckin problem dude and it's obviously YOU that f*cked it up because MANY other people don't have problems like you. 

 Have a nice day.


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## SK-1 (Dec 7, 2012)

I have a similar issue. Whenever I install any sound card... I get audio loop lockups. Just like OP described....at any time. Ill reinstall my Sound Card and disable the HDMI audio. Then test and report back!


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 8, 2012)

SK-1 said:


> I have a similar issue. Whenever I install any sound card... I get audio loop lockups. Just like OP described....at any time. Ill reinstall my Sound Card and disable the HDMI audio. Then test and report back!



Yep, a common problem that some seem clueless about.

BO,
I have mentioned before in other posts that I CAN get HDMI Audio to show in the sound panel as plugged in and enabled as default device, but only if I'm careful about how it's setup. On my current GPU that meant uninstalling the Realtek onboard driver and disabling onboard sound, but even then the HDMI Audio device could only be configured as stereo, which is kinda pointless considering I'm using a 5.1 receiver and speakers.

I tried using ALL HDMI inputs on my TV, as well as those on my receiver to attempt a video pass through. None of it worked. Goody for you that you have a nice plasma TV with HDMI *outputs*, that's a luxury for many and something you typically don't see in the smaller LCD sets some us have due to budget and space.

Did it ever occur to you just having a TV with such outputs and/or a receiver with video pass through may very well be REQUIRED to do what you're talking about? Before implying it's my mere ineptness at setting up my hardware and drivers, maybe you should consider that.

It's not what you said in your first post, it's that you said it with the attitude now made clear in your last one.


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## SK-1 (Dec 9, 2012)

Ok, Ive played about 5 rounds of BF3 and about 1 and a half hours of metro 2033 and no problems. Still not 100% convinced. Im hopefully optimistic. Going to give this a few more days. 
Forgot how good my auzentech prelude 7.1 x-fi sounds.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 9, 2012)

Of course clean video and audio driver installs, by thoroughly scrubbing the previous ones, helps, and some configs are more tolerant to beta drivers than others as well. AMD drivers in particular can sometimes take 2 or 3 install attempts before everything works as should. 

For instance my first time installing the drivers for my 7970, CCC's scaling feature would not respond after enabling it until I rebooted. I tried installing the 12.10 WHQL and had no such problems, which I'm currently running. I'll trade a little performance if it means more stability.

Also make sure you have the latest MB BIOS and flash the safest way possible, like with a flash drive, CD, etc. I'm not saying disabling a non used audio device will work for everybody, but I've heard feedback from several for whom it seems to have worked.


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## Jetster (Dec 9, 2012)

I have a couple of rigs with mutipal audio devices and never disable any of them. Ive never had an issue like that. The only problem Ive ever had is somtimes it will switch from one device to another without asking. But never a game freeze


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 9, 2012)

Jetster said:


> I have a couple of rigs with mutipal audio devices and never disable any of them. Ive never had an issue like that. The only problem Ive ever had is somtimes it will switch from one device to another without asking. But never a game freeze



From what I've read some MB models are licensed differently as far as how many channels of audio they can produce of a given encode, which could have something to do with it, as well as their latency.


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## Aquinus (Dec 9, 2012)

Out of my last 4 video cards that have had HDMI in some way, shape, or form, this has never happened to me. If it is actually the audio device on your motherboard while your overclocked it could be the OC. If you're hitting the bclk you could be making the chipset run faster would would mean that the CPU is perfectly stable but the link between the CPU and the chipset might not.

All in all, I have to agree with Mussels on this one. This really sounds like a false positive, but it diserves investigation nonetheless.

Example: I had a stable 4.5Ghz overclock two days ago, passes stress tests and everything and once StarCraft II loaded a level, it would crash (hard crash.) At first I thought it was drivers but it was actually the overclock even though it apeared stable on Prime95 and ADIA stress tests, it was not stable in SC2.


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## Mussels (Dec 9, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> Out of my last 4 video cards that have had HDMI in some way, shape, or form, this has never happened to me. If it is actually the audio device on your motherboard while your overclocked it could be the OC. If you're hitting the bclk you could be making the chipset run faster would would mean that the CPU is perfectly stable but the link between the CPU and the chipset might not.
> 
> All in all, I have to agree with Mussels on this one. This really sounds like a false positive, but it diserves investigation nonetheless.
> 
> Example: I had a stable 4.5Ghz overclock two days ago, passes stress tests and everything and once StarCraft II loaded a level, it would crash (hard crash.) At first I thought it was drivers but it was actually the overclock even though it apeared stable on Prime95 and ADIA stress tests, it was not stable in SC2.



i used to fall for stuff like this all the time, and come up with various reasons why things crashed.


then i ran at complete stock, and tested all my hardware and settings. at the time i had bad ram that overheated (needed a fan on it, and higher than specced voltage)

swapped the ram, sorted out a more reasonable OC and i dont crash at all. ever. now i think that if a system crashes even once, its unforgivable.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 9, 2012)

One thing I find odd is even with what appears to be a more stable install of Cat 12.10 vs 12.11 (scaling didn't respond after enabling until reboot with 12.11 install), I still get several instances of the AMD High Definition Audio device showing up in the sound panel, vs just one. And both installs were done via checking for traces of both Nvidia and AMD first.

I think there's far too many things that can cause crashes and lockups to say they should never happen. Hell, some games are so horribly made they can cause such things.


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## Mussels (Dec 9, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> One thing I find odd is even with what appears to be a more stable install of Cat 12.10 vs 12.11 (scaling didn't respond after enabling until reboot with 12.11 install), I still get several instances of the AMD High Definition Audio device showing up in the sound panel, vs just one. And both installs were done via checking for traces of both Nvidia and AMD first.
> 
> I think there's far too many things that can cause crashes and lockups to say they should never happen. Hell, some games are so horribly made they can cause such things.



software crashing is not the same as a BSOD or total freeze.


just to chip in:







no problems with stability here. one possible cause for these issues could be that some console ports (cough CoD) hate audio being set to anything other than 16 bit 44Khz. they may find a soundcard with other settings and have issues.


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## Aquinus (Dec 9, 2012)

Mussels said:


> one possible cause for these issues could be that some console ports (cough CoD) hate audio being set to anything other than 16 bit 44Khz.



+1: I know Skyrim wouldn't even start for me unless the sampling rate was no more than 48khz, 96 or 192 would cause it to crash when it starts.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Dec 9, 2012)

I too have no problem at all with the gpu HDMI enabled. My systems are rock stable as they crunch 24/7/365. I also game and have never experinced any issues. First pic is my CF'd 6850 rig and the second pic is my 7850 rig.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 9, 2012)

@Mussels,
Your pic doesn't even show which audio device is default, and like mine, both AMD HD and HDMI devices are showing as not plugged in. And like mine, Realtek devices always show as plugged in when their drivers are installed and they're enabled in BIOS, nothing new there.

I'm also doubting this is the audio sampling rate setting because when the crash DOES happen it's typically after several hours of play, vs not allowing me to play at all.

Thanks for showing the pics though, because it does indicate multiple instances of AMD HD Audio showing, so maybe that's common, but why? Also, even though my latest install of Cat 12.10 seemed to go smoother, with no problem with scaling working right away, the CCC Installer said to read the log about errors during the install, yet there were no errors in it.

@MaD ShOt,
Again, your AMD HD devices are showing as not plugged in. In your case though the pics don't even show any AMD HDMI devices, and the ones used as default are in fact Speakers, which is analog out, not HDMI digital out.

I appreciate your guys input, esp since it's kept civil, but I've yet to see anyone show me any proof of HDMI out working, and I suspect if it were, it would be a case where it's sent either to a receiver with video pass through, or an HDTV with HDMI out, and many TVs don't even have such a feature. Or, in my case, as I've said before, I DID get HDMI Audio to show as plugged in and default device, but only when I disabled Realtek HD in BIOS and uninstalled it's driver before installing the Cat driver. 

It would only configure as stereo though because the device connected was my HDTV, which again, doesn't have HDMI out. This was unacceptable because it would have meant using just my TV speakers. I don't have the option of connecting my PC to the receiver as video pass through to the TV, because I don't even get any picture that way.

Last night I played a fair bit of Far Cry 3 on Cat 12.10 with no problems and temps peaked at only 53c. I was playing at the stock #2 OC BIOS of 1000 core and the CPU is back at stock speed on XMP profile. 

Going to try again tonight at 1100. If that goes well, I'll bump the CPU up again and see how things go. So far though it's looking like this is either due to problems with 12.11 itself or it not installing as well as 12.10 for some reason.


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## Mussels (Dec 10, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> @Mussels,
> *Your pic doesn't even show which audio device is default, and like mine, both AMD HD and HDMI devices are showing as not plugged in.* And like mine, Realtek devices always show as plugged in when their drivers are installed and they're enabled in BIOS, nothing new there.
> 
> *I'm also doubting this is the audio sampling rate setting because when the crash DOES happen it's typically after several hours of play, vs not allowing me to play at all.*
> ...



1. The bottom one. realtek optical. its cut off in the photo to show the second HDMI at the top.

2. that means your system is unstable. no ifs, ands or buts about it - you have an unstable overclock, or you're unstable at stock.

3. i use my HDMI + audio daily on my AMD A6 laptop. zero issues at all. i can even unplug the HDMI and have it revert to the inbuilt speakers without apps crashing or glitching out.

4. Not sure what you meant about the HDTV/receiver comments. HDMI goes into the TV, or into a receiver first. thats how it works. i run into a TV and have no problems.


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## AsRock (Dec 10, 2012)

Good to know there might be a solution how ever i have never had the issue in using the HDMI sound output on mine.

In fact my on-board sound is enabled now for the mic  .


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 10, 2012)

Mussels said:


> 1. The bottom one. realtek optical. its cut off in the photo to show the second HDMI at the top.
> 
> 2. that means your system is unstable. no ifs, ands or buts about it - you have an unstable overclock, or you're unstable at stock.
> 
> ...



1. Confusing, you're saying Realtek Optical is default, or the first HDMI, which for some reason you chose not to show?

2. It could mean that the CPU OC is stable under Prime95, but not under Warfighter, which quite frankly is a game that has a few quirks. There IS the fact however that 12.10 installed more smoothly than 12.11, so I'm not ruling out driver compatibility issues.

4. I mean I use 5.1, not stereo. As I said, I CAN get HDMI Audio to show as plugged in and default IF I uninstall the Realtek HD driver before installing Cat. In other words I think the reason the HDMI Audio device is limiting me to stereo configuration is that I have my HDMI cable hooked to my TV, which appears to have no multi channel audio (HDMI out) pass through. 

I was hoping the TV's ARC feature would allow multichannel audio to pass through to the receiver, but it doesn't. Maybe my receiver only accepts ARC from my TV's audio, because it works for TV shows, but not for PC audio. I think the weak link HDMI audio wise is my TV though. In it's manual it says PC use is not assumed.

As I've said before, I've already had the HDMI Audio running to my TV, but in that scenario I can only use the stereo TV speakers, which is unacceptable. Are you using just your TV speakers, or passing multi channel audio through to a receiver via HDMI out or ARC?


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## Mussels (Dec 10, 2012)

1. i said that i had it half off screen, to show all of the adaptors. cant resize that window. optical is default on this PC, HDMI is on my laptop.

2. prime95 is a terrible CPU stability tester. try linpack, or something that cant handle instability like games.

3. ???

4. HDTV's dont pass 5.1 out if HDMI is the input. if you want 5.1 HDMI, you need a receiver BEFORE the HDTV. (PC->receiver->HDTV)


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## Aquinus (Dec 10, 2012)

Mussels said:


> 4. HDTV's dont pass 5.1 out if HDMI is the input. if you want 5.1 HDMI, you need a receiver BEFORE the HDTV. (PC->receiver->HDTV)



I'm going to debate this, not to say it isn't true for most cases. a TV can do 5.1 pass-through back through optical S/PDIF on the display if the TV has it and ONLY if the TV supports pass-through since it's negotiated by HDMI. If you check your settings and there is no 5.1 option it means your display has reported to Windows that it cannot support it which is why you can't see what formats are supported until the TV is actually connected unlike analog audio.

So Mussels is mostly right. If you want 5.1 over HDMI you need a receiver or display that can process it and decode it, but even still if the TV can decode it you still need a receiver to decode the Optical S/PDIF.

What are you using to drive 5.1 audio that isn't "detecting it," because I bet there is a better way to do what you want without buying a receiver.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 10, 2012)

I already said I AM using a receiver. It's just a Yamaha RX-V371 though, and I don't think it supports video pass through other than from Blu-ray to the TV on the HDMI 1 port.

As I assumed it sounds like you are only using stereo audio to your TV Mussels, at least that's what it sounded like you're saying.

I think I may have narrowed down the problem I'm getting with lockups though. Since it just happened again tonight after a fairly short session even with no OC on the CPU or GPU (just XMP Profile on the CPU), I figured it might be something other than the overclocking. 

I've ran the CPU at a mild (3.2GHz) and moderate (3.6GHz) before for months with no problems. The GPU also when I first OCed it only showed problems up to a certain point, then I backed it down considerably and it ran for some time OK.

The only other thing that's new with the latest upgrades is my Plextor SSD. I've been running it off the Marvell SATA III controller built into my MB, which I'm reading many have had problems with in not only crippled speed, but instability, namely lockups.

I just ran a fairly long session with it on an Intel SATA II port vs the Marvell SATA III, and so far so good. While SATA II does lower it's read speed quite a bit, it actually gets a bit of a boost on write performance. Nothing to "write" home about, but in a year or so I plan to have a different CPU, MB and RAM, so the Plextor will still severe me well with a better SATA III controller.

I hope to hell this is it, because I'm tired of troubleshooting.


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## H82LUZ73 (Dec 10, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> @Mussels,
> Your pic doesn't even show which audio device is default, and like mine, both AMD HD and HDMI devices are showing as not plugged in. And like mine, Realtek devices always show as plugged in when their drivers are installed and they're enabled in BIOS, nothing new there.
> 
> I'm also doubting this is the audio sampling rate setting because when the crash DOES happen it's typically after several hours of play, vs not allowing me to play at all.
> ...



Uhm dude realtek makes the audio chips on all AMD cards since 2900xt- 7970,I have had no issues with them .I also have my on board disabled only to save me from the dreaded OS auto switch at start up,If your using the 12.11 beta`s That Audio section is new and what do you expect from beta`s? Also you say you OC your cpu and that there is the cause of your BSOD`S not audio.Maybe Musseles real tek drivers are for his cards not on board,Try going to the Real Tek drivers for AMD HDMI ...they are more stable then the ones in the cat drivers.The only gripe i have with the gpu sound is no mic .


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## Aquinus (Dec 10, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> I already said I AM using a receiver. It's just a Yamaha RX-V371 though, and I don't think it supports video pass through other than from Blu-ray to the TV on the HDMI 1 port.



Put that in the OP please, because its easy to miss a big detail like that if it is in a random post within the thread. I definitely missed it.

Do other ports work? Keep in mind that you can't send uncompressed 5.1 through HDMI, you need to use DTS or Dolby tech to do it. Have you tried using either of these before trying to route 5.1 through HDMI? Also it sounds weird that video doesn't pass through from HDMI port 1 on your receiver, do others work fine? Do sources that use HDCP work fine versus those that don't? Also does audio work even if the video doesn't get sent to the TV.

Let me switch my display to HDMI so I can throw up some screenshots.

Edit: Could you post what you're supported formats tab looks like?

Example:


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 10, 2012)

LOL, I'm well aware Realtek makes the AMD audio and I already did try downloading from there separately and it wouldn't even install.

I'm going to say this one last time, because I'm tired of repeating it. People saying they're getting HDMI audio to "work" is relative to what AV peripherals they're using and how many channels they suffice with. It's not hard to get stereo HDMI audio, but multi channel HDMI audio seems to require a peripheral that supports it, as has already been said by more than just myself.

I've heard even a tech, one from XFX in fact, claim he never had a problem with HDMI audio, then he said he was using headphones plugged into his MB. Uh, OK, whatever, he's an XFX tech and he doesn't even know that's analog out vs HDMI digital. When I pointed out his error he sounded a bit embarrassed.

Thus I take the whole HDMI audio always works talk with a grain of salt, because HDMI stereo is easy. HDMI multi channel specifically though, prove it to me, including what peripherals you're using. Then I'll start listening. If it takes a $1000+ TV with HDMI outputs or $800 receiver though, I think I'll suffice with optical out and Dolby Digital compression vs multi channel PCM lossless.

HDMI is and always has been an over protected format, and what's odd, is it isn't even that great. Manufactures have to buy into it's use and linkage to other components like it's the holy friggin grail or something. I think that in a nutshell along with MS pulling HAL support is why it's a bitch to get multi channel HDMI audio pass through to work for PC, at least with affordable AV gear anyway.

On supported formats, I noticed something odd in your pic. It says your AMD HDMI doesn't even support HDCP. HELLO, do you not know what that means? Anyways, my Panny TV shows the same as yours on sample rates and 2 channel limitation, but mine only shows 16 bit. The big difference is mine does say HDCP supported though.

I get now why there are several instances of HDMI showing in the sound panel with an AMD Cat driver install. It's 6 instances in case you want to use 6 display Eyefinity. Anyways, I'll take what I get out of this card over the MSI 660 Ti PE OC I tried any day, because that one wouldn't even let me switch from TV to PC without BSOD, and it showed my TV as not HDCP capable, even though it actually is.

Some of you are acting like HDMI and all the devices that use it, including GPUs, is a user friendly, predictable, flawless connectivity, but it's far from it, in fact regarding PC use, it's often like a comedy of manufacturer vs user errors. Just in the AV Home Theater market alone there are constant complaints from consumers about HDMI "hand shaking" not working as it should.

This is what happens when big corporations get greedy about anyone using a connectivity format they seek to put too much control on.


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## TheMailMan78 (Dec 10, 2012)

Mussels said:


> this sounds like a false positive to me. if you're on an OC'd system, the crashes are random. so this doesnt really rule anything out.
> 
> 
> i have about 5 sound devices enabled, and have no issues (onboard, digital, USB, BT, headset)



This. I do not disable anything but the iGPU.


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## 3870x2 (Dec 10, 2012)

BlackOmega said:


> I'd have to disagree with that. I've run a multitude of ATi video cards that use HDMI audio and have never had an issue. Cards I've ran with HDMI audio 5850's (about 4 total), 5870's (4 or 5), 6870's (2), 6950's (4 total), 6970's (2).



¿? You can't disagree with fact.  Both my laptop and desktop HDMI audio recognition is terrible after several reinstalls.  I am glad however that it works for you, heres a pat on the head.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 10, 2012)

3870x2 said:


> I am glad however that it works for you, heres a pat on the head.



LOL, the good ole compat pat, you won the lottery!


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## TheMailMan78 (Dec 10, 2012)

I think a lot of these issues could be rig specific.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 10, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I think a lot of these issues could be rig specific.



Like I said a little bit ago, those Marvell SATA 3 controllers can cause problems from what I've read. My X58 MB was made during a time when SATA 3 onboard controllers were just trickling into the market and there was a bit of a ruckus over the several brands/models of boards that were using that controller. Marvell has done OK with SSD controllers, but is seems they were quick to jump on the SATA 3 controller bandwagon before they had a good design going.

Anyways, just played a session of AC3 with the SSD on the Intel SATA 2 port, and again, no lockups, knock on wood. I almost worry saying that will jinx me. I'm going to go ahead and reapply the mild CPU OC. Then if all goes well might bump her back up to 3.6 or 4GHZ.

What's funny is despite the much lower read speed, on the SATA 2 port the system seems to actually reboot a bit faster.


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## INSTG8R (Dec 10, 2012)

The only "issue" I have with the HDMI Audio Device on my card is that I have 6 instances of it in Control Panel. I have never actually used it for audio tho I am actually using the HDMI output on the card for video output.

@FM: Yeah Marvell controllers are pretty inferior to an Intel controller if you have the choice.


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## Steevo (Dec 10, 2012)

All I use anymore is HDMI output, and I have mine, my laptop, two video conference systems, and a few friends systems running it with zero issues, and I have also ran my Yeti blue mic and switched it around without issues. 


ATI did have an issue early this year with HDMI audio not being reinitialized after you turned off the TV or monitor, you had to either reboot or switch it manually, but this has been fixed for months.

I use 5.1 at home from the HDMI, and you MUST have a capable receiver or TV.


Reading this thread it seems you have multiple circumstances that stack up to an issue that is specific to you only. If your source is not higher than stereo the digital output from the HDMI port will only be stereo unless you purchase software or get software to re-encode it, if your receiver is only capable of certain formats and sample rates the lowest common denominator will determine the format used, not necessarily the best according to you, but the most compatible.


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## AphexDreamer (Dec 10, 2012)

All my audio devices are enabled and I have zero crashes in the varity of games I have played extensively over the last year or so. So the OP's theory needs to be reassessed.


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## SK-1 (Dec 11, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> I thought I'd share this because I've seen others with this problem, and in searching I finally found out what causes it. Bear with me if any of you already know this, because really there isn't much in the way of warnings about it.
> 
> We all know that many whom have bought GPUs with built-in HD Audio via HDMI have had problems of one sort or another right? The scope and variety of them can vary. Many of us have also read that it's best to disable onboard sound in the BIOS when you CAN get HDMI audio to work.
> 
> ...



Wow. I just happened upon your post a few days ago and Im really grateful. I've been so *FRUSTRATED *with my "audio loop crash _AND subsequent blue-screen_(if I wait long enough after crash it *WILL* B.S.)... 
After 15+ rounds of BF-3 and hours of metro... I can fully state... This Bitch is Fixed...
All the drivers... the voltage adjustments....all the time I spent trying to figure this out, ALL the cussing about creative and Auzentek!!!!!!!!! Oh well.... at least I can get through a friggin map now!!!

Thanks a million again Frag Maniac...


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 11, 2012)

Mussels said:


> prime95 is a terrible CPU stability tester. try linpack, or something that cant handle instability like games.



I found a webpage on Intel's site that has a Windows version of Linpack for DL, but it's hard to figure how to install it. Do you know of a guide or can tell me how? This puppy requires compiling.

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-math-kernel-library-linpack-download

SK-1,
Don't thank me until you give it a good while. It may completely solve the problem or only minimize it. The results seem to vary. Needless to say there are many things about PC gaming configs of which there are no standard rules of thumb. They always seem to take troubleshooting now and then.


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## SK-1 (Dec 11, 2012)

Ok fair enough... Still the longest run ever with no crash... Its so nice. Nothing like being 5 tickets away from the end of a winning round or about to blow the _last_ M-com station (along with getting oodles of kills and dog tags) only to have your screen freeze and your sound loop on 5.1 speakers


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## Mussels (Dec 11, 2012)

OCCT has a linpack x64 test built in.


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 11, 2012)

Mussels said:


> OCCT has a linpack x64 test built in.



Perfect, thanked for the post.


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## flavinator (Aug 13, 2014)

Same problem as OP. Skyrim locked up on me last night, and think this might be why. I posted the driver issue I've been having on another forum here. Not sure what, if anything there is to do. 

Thanks in advance for the help.


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## Mussels (Aug 13, 2014)

flavinator said:


> Same problem as OP. Skyrim locked up on me last night, and think this might be why. I posted the driver issue I've been having on another forum here. Not sure what, if anything there is to do.
> 
> Thanks in advance for the help.




lots of system instability (often power, OC or ram related) are almsot random. they can disappear for weeks at a time, then suddenly strike - you can change one setting, give the PC time to cool down 10C and think that you fixed it, when really you're just in that in-between period.

i had MONTHS of issues with random BSOD's and tried a dozen things, sometimes going weeks without crashes - built an entirely new PC with all new hardware and they still followed me, finally finding out my USB webcams mic was failing, and crashing windows. 
About four PC's ago i had similar, and it was my ram modules heating up - they'd reach over 90C due to being in a bad air pocket above a hot, 4870 crossfire setup, but after merely 2 minutes of being powered off, they were back under 40C again - and stable for another 5-10 hours of gaming or stress testing. found many 'fixes' but the issues came back, niggling at my sanity.


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## flavinator (Aug 13, 2014)

Mussels said:


> lots of system instability (often power, OC or ram related) are almsot random. they can disappear for weeks at a time, then suddenly strike - you can change one setting, give the PC time to cool down 10C and think that you fixed it, when really you're just in that in-between period.
> 
> i had MONTHS of issues with random BSOD's and tried a dozen things, sometimes going weeks without crashes - built an entirely new PC with all new hardware and they still followed me, finally finding out my USB webcams mic was failing, and crashing windows.
> About four PC's ago i had similar, and it was my ram modules heating up - they'd reach over 90C due to being in a bad air pocket above a hot, 4870 crossfire setup, but after merely 2 minutes of being powered off, they were back under 40C again - and stable for another 5-10 hours of gaming or stress testing. found many 'fixes' but the issues came back, niggling at my sanity.



I haven't gotten a BSOD with my issue, just game lock up. After closing the game, I was fine.


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## TheMailMan78 (Aug 13, 2014)

flavinator said:


> I haven't gotten a BSOD with my issue, just game lock up. After closing the game, I was fine.


Skyrim isn't want you call a stable game to begin with. It would crash on air traffic control systems.  If you have BF3 crank that up for a few hours and if you can run it without freezing then I wouldn't worry.


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## Mussels (Aug 13, 2014)

flavinator said:


> I haven't gotten a BSOD with my issue, just game lock up. After closing the game, I was fine.



that doesnt mean much. your CPU could be stable for 99.99% of processes - if that 0.001% is a game, the game crashes. if its a critical OS task, you get a BSOD - if its not critical, you get weird glitches and bugs (see all the youtube videos of bethesda games like fallout new vegas where physics goes spastic)


This IMO is the big reason why there are so many help threads with mixed responses. half the people say it worked, half the people say it rowked for a while, the other half say it never worked at all.

then you realise theres way too many halves, and that someones simply gotta be wrong. people want an easy, one step solution - and those are RARE. if audio settings caused game problems, it wouldnt start - like CoD2 and CoD4:MW without a mic on a modern sound card.


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## flavinator (Aug 13, 2014)

Mussels said:


> that doesnt mean much. your CPU could be stable for 99.99% of processes - if that 0.001% is a game, the game crashes. if its a critical OS task, you get a BSOD - if its not critical, you get weird glitches and bugs (see all the youtube videos of bethesda games like fallout new vegas where physics goes spastic)
> 
> 
> This IMO is the big reason why there are so many help threads with mixed responses. half the people say it worked, half the people say it rowked for a while, the other half say it never worked at all.
> ...



Any advice on my original issue I linked to in the post about a code 10 with high definition audio drivers in crossfire?


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## Mussels (Aug 13, 2014)

flavinator said:


> Any advice on my original issue I linked to in the post about a code 10 with high definition audio drivers in crossfire?




you're either installing drivers not meant for the card (the realtek HDMI drivers do NOT work with current AMD drivers or hardware), or the cards faulty.


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## flavinator (Aug 13, 2014)

Mussels said:


> you're either installing drivers not meant for the card (the realtek HDMI drivers do NOT work with current AMD drivers or hardware), or the cards faulty.



For the cards, they are AMD's drivers, and Realtek is the onboard. What other driver/s or configurations would you suggest?


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## Mussels (Aug 13, 2014)

flavinator said:


> For the cards, they are AMD's drivers, and Realtek is the onboard. What other driver/s or configurations would you suggest?



a clean uninstall of all the AMD drivers (except SATA, if you have an AMD chipset mobo) and removal of any possibly conflicting sound (realtek do provide an AMD HDMI driver, make sure thats not installed) install the latest AMD driver and leave it at that. you can always manually install the driver from the 'good' card to the bad one, and see how that goes.

you havent listed your system specs in your user CP, so i'm really stuck blindly guessing - and if you wanted all this sorted you should have made your own thread, not resurrected a years old, dead one with an almost entirely unrelated topic.


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## flavinator (Aug 13, 2014)

Mussels said:


> a clean uninstall of all the AMD drivers (except SATA, if you have an AMD chipset mobo) and removal of any possibly conflicting sound (realtek do provide an AMD HDMI driver, make sure thats not installed) install the latest AMD driver and leave it at that. you can always manually install the driver from the 'good' card to the bad one, and see how that goes.
> 
> you havent listed your system specs in your user CP, so i'm really stuck blindly guessing - and if you wanted all this sorted you should have made your own thread, not resurrected a years old, dead one with an almost entirely unrelated topic.



I posted my specs on the other forum that I linked to. And it is related to this thread, or I thought, because of Skyrim locking up. I thought this lock up might be because of my sound driver issues like the OP. 

Thanks for the advice too, I'll try it.


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## de.das.dude (Aug 13, 2014)

even though i do disable the hdmi audio... but i just tried it since i use hdmi for my new monitor and well the audio is crap... but no problems otherwise.


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## RejZoR (Aug 14, 2014)

de.das.dude said:


> even though i do disable the hdmi audio... but i just tried it since i use hdmi for my new monitor and well the audio is crap... but no problems otherwise.



Audio was crap because you used crap speakers (on a monitor). Otherwise this "HDMI Audio" is actually just a passthrough. It does nothing to the sound processing, it just sends the soudn internally through PCIe of the graphic card and outputs it through HDMI..


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## Mussels (Aug 14, 2014)

RejZoR said:


> Audio was crap because you used crap speakers (on a monitor). Otherwise this "HDMI Audio" is actually just a passthrough. It does nothing to the sound processing, it just sends the soudn internally through PCIe of the graphic card and outputs it through HDMI..



that. even my TV's inbuilt speakers are garbage compared to proper ones, or even headphones.


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## de.das.dude (Aug 14, 2014)

RejZoR said:


> Audio was crap because you used crap speakers (on a monitor). Otherwise this "HDMI Audio" is actually just a passthrough. It does nothing to the sound processing, it just sends the soudn internally through PCIe of the graphic card and outputs it through HDMI..


yes and no....  i used the aux output of the monitors. monitor doesnt have speakers itself but it has a stereo output.


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## RejZoR (Aug 14, 2014)

Still, the sound was garbage then because monitor uses some cheap ass DAC units. The sound coming from the grpahic card was perfect until it entered the monitor which then converted digital signal into analog.

Not sure why you'd want to route sound this way instead of output it through soundcard. Any onboard these days will have much better DAC's than monitor where they stuff the cheapest possible crap they get hands on.


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## de.das.dude (Aug 14, 2014)

Yup....As i said i just tested it. never used hdmi before. first time i got a flat screen. before this i had a CRT 17" XD


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## AsRock (Aug 14, 2014)

de.das.dude said:


> Yup....As i said i just tested it. never used hdmi before. first time i got a flat screen. before this i had a CRT 17" XD



Well speakers on TV's and such pretty much always suck,  it's always been like that.


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## cheesy999 (Aug 14, 2014)

AsRock said:


> Well speakers on TV's and such pretty much always suck,  it's always been like that.



wasn't quite as dire before flat screens though


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## Batou1986 (Aug 14, 2014)

Just to add to the list of people who have issues with the AMD HDMI drivers.
If i don't disable the 6 disconnected hdmi audio devices they cause my sound control to lock up and also make the computer take forever to shutdown
I didn't have the problem with 6870's nor do I have the issue with my E-350 htpc


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## Frag_Maniac (Aug 14, 2014)

Batou1986 said:


> Just to add to the list of people who have issues with the AMD HDMI drivers.
> If i don't disable the 6 disconnected hdmi audio devices they cause my sound control to lock up and also make the computer take forever to shutdown
> I didn't have the problem with 6870's nor do I have the issue with my E-350 htpc


Yeah it's def not consistently workable from one PC to the next. And for the record, I'm still getting no more audio problems and I never formatted, negating the comment that I had Windows file corruption. Like I said, some are just quick to assume user error on these things merely because they've had no issues on a completely different build.

I'm leaning more and more toward my next GPU being a high end Maxwell card by EVGA. They seem to be consistently better quality than these AMD variants, and they back their product well in the few occasions where they *don't* work properly.


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## Tatty_One (Aug 14, 2014)

I am a bit of a nub when it comes to PC audio, for fear of derailing the thread just a little, can I ask opinions on the quality of GPU HD audio?  I am assuming if I have a decent (and spare) Denon AV Receiver lying around and it has HDMI in and Out ports I could use this method with the GPU direct in to the receiver thru HDMI..... what kind of quality should I be expecting?  Will it match or better a SPDIF connect between my soundcard into the receiver? Again apologies for slight derailment!


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## Frag_Maniac (Aug 14, 2014)

Tatty_One said:


> I am a bit of a nub when it comes to PC audio, for fear of derailing the thread just a little, can I ask opinions on the quality of GPU HD audio?  I am assuming if I have a decent (and spare) Denon AV Receiver lying around and it has HDMI in and Out ports I could use this method with the GPU direct in to the receiver thru HDMI..... what kind of quality should I be expecting?  Will it match or better a SPDIF connect between my soundcard into the receiver? Again apologies for slight derailment!


According to Mussels, and I have no reason to think he's wrong, you have to have an AVR that supports LPCM lossless passthrough to get 5.1 HDMI Audio from PC to speakers going through an AVR. I'm not sure you'd get the same effect/quality with SPDIF. It might only carry a 5.1 encoded signal which the AVR would decode as Dolby Digital or DTS, whichever your soundcard supports. As far as I know the only way to get true uncompressed 5.1 audio from PC to speaker via an AVR is the HDMI out from your GPU, and again, the AVR has to support 5.1 LPCM passthrough. My entry level Yamaha doesn't, but it's also an older model that doesn't even have software calibration.

So as far as sound difference between HDMI from GPU and SPDIF, it would probably be lossless ("HD")vs compressed (DD, DTS). The reality is though, in games it's not as big a difference because all game audio is compressed anyway. To give you an example, I use the "Straight" option on my Yamaha when gaming with headphones, which disables all sound processing and lets the straight PCM lossless stereo signal through. Though it's lossless HD at that point, it's only slightly better than with processing, and it's because game audio starts out compressed anyway.


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