Realtek ALC1200 (The confusion and questions answered)

The adapter i'm using doesn't allow for feedback.... it's a small little box... I Do know of some pretty horrible connections that go both way resulting in some nasty results.... but then you gotta do a little research on it.

 

I have the new Asus M4A79 Deluxe with the Realtek ALC1200 onboard. I also have the Radeon ATI HD4870 graphics card. I am running Vista 64-bit.

I have two questions that I am hoping can be answered here:

1. Realtek driver problems - the driver that came with system (6.0.1.5657) doesnt work properly. I was able to get things working by deleting this driver completely (uninstall didn`t work). The Vista drivers seem to be working. Is there any benefit in quality from trying to get the Realtek drivers to work or should I just use the Vista default drivers É Suggestions É
2. What differences is audio quality are there between Realtek ALC1200 and the HDMI audio output from the Radeon HD4870 graphics cardÉ. Which is better É

P.S. This is my first post here. For some reason question marks appear as: É

 

1: mostly it's fuctionality, features and a few other "audio solutions" that the official drivers do, i'm unaware of the specific drivers that came with the board... but i highly recommend you get the latest Vista drivers from realtek. Realtek is the official site. you'll need to download the Realtek HD Audio drivers/codec file.

Alternatively , i usually go to www.majorgeeks.com and search for the latest version as the realtek download can be extremely slow at times.

2: there is mostly no difference between the alc1200 and hdmi audio in a digital format, the HD4870's hdmi is limited to 2 channel stereo only or passthrough digital audio which is essentially similare, my hd4870 with hdmi is limited to 48hz stereo though where as the realtek is capable of 192khz.

IMO you'll have an easier time with realtek.

Just download the Realtek supplied drivers and install it.... you shouldn't have a single hitch.

 

Ok, I'm downloading drivers now.

What about the installed Vista HD ausio drivers? Do I need to delete or uninstall them or is the new Realtek driver smart enough to handle this situation? ( I suspect that it was these installed Vista drivers that were causing me the probems [spurious noise]).

 

The drivers that come with vista you can just install over top...

 

Well I downloaded realtek (R2.17) 6.0.1.5794 dated yesterday. I deleted the default Vista audio drivers and installed this driver. Unfortunately I have the same old problem = spurious noise.:sigh:

Intitally I thought that this might be a hardware problem but the problem is solved by deleting the Realtek driver and letting Vista install its default drivers.

If anyone from Realtek is monitoring they may want to test out my configuration. The system is a brand new build with standard components, nothing special except for 8 GB of RAM.

Suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

While i don't have the same board as you.. i'm using pretty much the identical thing

ALC1200
HD4870 with HDMI
windows Vista 64bit
(used 4/8/16gb of ram)


How are you connected to the realtek chipset? (Digital via coax/fiber or Analog? )

 

I have two small stereo speakers connected to the rear, 2-channel (Analog) line out (lime green) and my stereo headset is connected to a 2-channel analog output jack on the front of my computer case (also lime green).

Previously, when I did some more thorough testing of 6.0.1.5657 (that required moving my computer to be near my stereo system) I discovered that the digital S/PDIF output was also not working. Removing the Realtek driver corrected this problem as well.

 

Judas, are you using the special ATI DVI to HDMI Dongle? (you mention HDMI in a previous post).

 

No, using the direct HDMI connection off the card...

On the other 4870 i had, the DVI to HDMI dongle would not work at all... period.... no video nothing.. even after swapping through a number of the adapters and cables i had here.. it refused to show anything on my hdtv.

so i replaced the card with a 4870 with a HDMI connector right on it.

 

My Sapphire Radeon 4870 1GB card has 2 DVI connectors. I am connected to my monitor using one of these and a DVI cable. I do not use the ATI DVI/HDMI dongle.

So, our two cards are not the same from at ATI "sound driver" point-of-view. I have read that the ATI card checks to see if there is HDMI and, if so, sends both audio and video, otherwise only video. Perhaps it is this difference that would account for your system working with Realtek and mine not working.

For curiosity's sake, I'm going to attach the dongle to my second DVI connector to see if that triggers my HD4870 to behave any differently. Maybe, if it does, it will create a situation similar to yours where Realtek and ATI work together harmoneously.

 

Attaching the dongle didn't solve my noise (background static) problem. Not having an HDMI cable at this time, I was unable to complete the connection by attaching my HDMI monitor - so this may be why it didn't work.

I deleted all sound drivers in device manager and re-installed the Realtek R2.17 (6.0.1.5794) driver. Initially, upon rebooting, everything was fine - no background noise. However, the moment that Vista completed the default installation of a second sound driver (their "High Definition Audio Device" driver), the spurious background noise reappeared.

Clearly, Realtek/ATI/AMD need to address this driver problem.

 

Judas, what brand/version of HD4870 is working for you?

 

i don't use the HDMI for audio just a fyi.

i'm trying to find a picture of the HD4870 card i've got as the HDMI port i on the far side beside 2 DVI ports.

edit:

found essentially what i've got..

it's not the 1gb eddition but it's a gainward hd4870

 

Hello, I have an Asus P5Q SE motherboard, which of course had the ALC1200, and I was considering buying an Asus audio card, but I would be using digital outputs going into my Denon receiver through coax, which the realtek has anyway, so I was wondering weather or not I would be able to tell a difference. I would mainly be using it with windows 7 x64, listening to music through iTunes, all in stereo. Would there be any difference in sound? And is the output from either truley digital? What I'm really trying to do is use digital instead of analog to cut down on distortion, especially since I will only use stereo. Thank you for the assistance.

~Max

 

when it comes to digital..... specially if it's all just going to be passthrough.... no you won't see a difference

 

Îòâåò: Realtek ALC1200 (The confusion and questions answered)

NanooseGuy, did you tried to mute & turn the sliders all down for the line-in, CD and mic inputs in mixer? (to remove the noise caused by the non connected high sensitive analog inputs)
Another suggestion: try to "switch off" the beeper connected to motherboard.

 

I also have an ASUS mb (P5QL Pro) with ALC1200 audio CODEC. I have installed the latest drivers for the MB and for Realtek. Onboard sound works great.

The problerm : I have no sound problem playing Vegas2. When I try to play Call of Duty World at War,I have no sound.

Anyone here have a solution ?
Thanks!

 

Sorry to revive an old thread but I've come across this a couple times and finally decided to post about this.

To whoever said "no unamplified set of speakers will get loud sound"... there seems to be an issue with the Vista drivers of the ALC1200. I have a dual boot with XP and Vista, and BY FAR the soundcard is WAY LOUDER in windows xp. Not only that but I was able to plug speakers/headphones into wherever I wanted and both would work at the same time...in Vista I have to plug both into the front jacks in order to get them both working at the same time... Makes NO sense. I've updated to every newer version that realtek has released and none compare to XP's sound.

Not only that but custom EQ is completely gone from their drivers, all you get to choose from is their crappy presets.

 

I agree about the EQ, but I haven't noticed any problems with the sound levels. I use speakers and headphones and they are pretty loud...