Paul wrote:
Bill wrote:
Bill wrote:

Here is an attempt to clarify my question:Â* Can I use DisplayPort and
the output audio jacks on my GPU at the same time?


It occurs to me now that the audio jacks are on the mainboard, so this
should be a no-brainer.Â* It's curious how the GPU could even get the
audio--maybe in a different application of the DisplayPort (i.e. in a
different device)...

Modern digital display standards have multiplexed
audio in the stream.

VGA was analog and doesn't have it.

DVI is digital and doesn't have it.

HDMI and DP have it. 8 channel LPCM (check Wikipedia articles
for more details). There are Dolby options but nobody cared.
With 8 channel Linear Pulse Code Modulation, there is
no compression, just 8 channels in plaintext.

Receiving devices (computer monitors with speakers, TV sets,
TV sets with passthru soundbar) receive 8 channel LPCM. They
don't need a license for it. No royalty to pay to Dolby.

You select digital audio in the Windows playback options.
The word "NVidia" might be involved (because we want the muxed
audio to be on the video cable, not RealTek digital via SPDIF or
TOSLink). You'd set the audio model to 2 channel audio,
because the monitor has two speakers, and you want the mixdown,
the head-model, to be used for any audio transforms. Your
source material could be 5.1, and you want the sub signal to
get mixed back into the two speakers, for a fuller sound.

Computer monitor speakers usually suck. And the time I've taken
to write this, is likely wasted. Your regular computer speakers,
hooked to the 1/8" Line Out and friends, likely sounds better,
because you can use ported amplified bookshelf speakers instead.
For example, Skybuck had a 500W amp setup, with ten channels
of Class D amplification, three channels in parallel driving the sub,
seven other channels for the other speakers. Putting the 3W monitor
speakers to shame :-) My setup is quite a bit less than that.

To use the regular computer speakers, you use Analog Line Out
and a setting of 2 channel stereo if you have two speakers. Etc.
Popular audio models are 2.0 (stereo), 2.1 (stereo+sub),
5.1 (four+center+sub), 7.1 (six+center+sub).

If you sendÂ* computer ---- TVSet --- soundbar, then the audio
model selected in Windows, would be whatever the soundbar model
is. If the soundbar claims to be 5.1, then you'd set Windows to 5.1.
The soundbar is going to sound better than typical LCD monitor speakers.

No matter how you get audio, it's always over-priced. And the
high-powered setups, like the one Skybuck used to have, they
don't necessarily last, because the amp is placed inside the
sub and it tends to "cook" for want of a better word. Even if the
volume isn't turned up, the air inside the sub can be toasty warm.
Amps really belong in their own cabinet (like my home-made one,
it never gets even a little bit warm).

Â*Â* Paul

Logitech stopped making their complex 5.1 systems over 10 years ago I
think, and I got one at their clearance price (around $150). I didn't
realize at the time that it was being discontinued. I learned that that
the reason it was discontinued was that enough people aren't willing to
wire their rooms to accommodate all the speakers. Not being a big bass
fan, I have the (really big) sub-woofer turned down pretty low. I'm
assuming that the amp is in the substantial control panel on my desk, I
just checked and the control panel is warm, and the speakers are
directly wired to it.
If the sub-woofer were to die, I'd still be completely happy with the
set up--to be honest it's way overkill. But when I listen to music, it
fills the room. And you are correct, I have no plans to funnel all of
this audio output into the DisplayPort. When I make my earlier post, I
was in a state of wondering whether I had a choice about that. From
your post, it seems apparent that I do. Now, just to wait for the
monitor I decided on to be in stock somewhere...it turns out folks are
using it (Dell S2721QS) for their game-stations... 3 days ago, I
didn't even know what a DisplayPort was, so this investigation was
educational! There's nothing like "standards" to keep one occupied.