Hi guys.

I built my HTPC back in 2010. Recently, I added a SSD to my setup and reformatted and reinstalled everything.
I think I messed up my graphichs card. It's a Sapphire HD 5670.
Now it's giving me intermittent sound when playing DTS or Dolby Digital files or Bluray Discs through Power DVD.
2 channel audio has no problems.

I've spent hours on hours trying to see what's available in 2014.
I've lost touch with the new technology out there.

My current HTPC is:

Intel Core2Duo E8400
Asus P5G43t M-Pro
1333 4Gb Ram
LiteON Bluray Combo Drive
60Gb SSD
2Tb HDD.

My intentions is to bitstream DTS HD MA and Dolby TrueHD via HDMI to my Denon amplifier.
I'm reading all new intel processors have this capabilty.
I don't want to change the processor, cos then I would have to change mobo, RAM etc.
So, the cheapest option I think for me is to replace my Graphics card.

What card will give me DTS HD MA and Dolby TrueHD pass through.
I read any card since the 5xxx series or GT430 series will do. These cards are pretty old.
What's a newish card I should use?
Don't use it for gaming, purely for Home Cinema.
Btw, i need a small size card to fit in a micro ATX case....it's an ANTEC Fusion Black.

If you guys have a better solution, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks paskal.
I've been trying to find information on these HD 6xxx cards but can't conclusively see if that ANY HD6xxx card will output DTS HD MA or Dolby TrueHD.
I know I may be a little fussy here, but half the joy is seeing that DTS HD Master or TrueHD light come on on the AV receiver.

I went to Asus' website and there's no info.
Sapphire's website shows some has it and some doesn't say.
AMD's website simply says all HD 6xxx GPU chip will support DTS HD and TrueHD.
Am I safe to buy ANY 6xxx card?

This post has been edited by acegreaser: Jan 8 2014, 02:32 AM

Thanks once again paskal for your quick reply.
My current card, is quite a low profile card... Probably not more than 4" tall. I've got to check. My casing will not allow a full size card. It's an AV receiver size casing.

I've shortlisted a Sapphire HD 6450, I think.
Will need to look around.

Thanks all.

I sorted out my problem.
I tried numerous times to update the AMD driver for the Graphics card and it kept failing.
The AMD website kept saying it was the wrong file for my OS.
Anyway, I went and bought a cheap graphics card online. While waiting for it to arrive, I tried one last time to update the driver.
And, suddenly it worked. Always kena like this...buy new and then the old one will decide to work.
So, with the update, the card works well now.
I get Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master now on my AV.

Also, I installed Plex Media Server into my PC based NAS and use Plex Home Theatre for my HTPC.
Also there's mobile apps for iOS and Android too if you wanna pay for it. Haven't tried it though.

Thanks again.

I use iMON. Came with the casing.
But the Logitech had the data for the iMON, so now I use my old Harmony 895

It depends on many things.

1. Does your LED TV support HDMI ARC(Audio Return Channel)
This ARC feature is great as it allows 2 way audio, upstream and downstream.
The HDMI Port will indicate ARC on it.
If it does, then a HDMI from your TV to A/V will work.

2. Does your PC have HDMI output or are you planning to use Optical out for audio.
If you use HDMI then what you can do is PC->A/V->TV
Then if you have other devices ie Video Game, Bluray Player, Satellite TV etc, you can connect it to the A/V receiver and use only one HDMI port on your TV.
Unfortunately, you will need to turn use the A/V system each time you wanna watch TV.
However, some newer A/V receiver allows a passthrough of sound through the HDMI ARC feature of the A/V.
So, the thing here is what can your A/V system support.

Using option 1 HDMI ARC, you can connect all your source devices to the TV and send just the audio from the TV to the A/V system.
This way it won't disable the TV speakers so you can still use the TV speakers if you don't want to use the A/V system.

Just do an internet search for HDMI ARC. There's some good info.