Correct cable for sound card > yamaha amp

[pompeybrum]

Could anyone advise me on the correct/best cable for the pc I've just ordered.

My soundcard will be "Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio"
My amp is a Yamaha RX-V363

Any advice greatly appreciated

Tony

 

[pengipete]

You've got a number of choices - you can use an optical cable for SPDIF surround sound, connect the individual outputs from the sound-card to the "Multi CH Inputs" on that amp for analog surround sound (or just stereo if you prefer) or - if your graphics card has HDMI output - you could run HDMI from the PC to the receiver and run the HDMI output to the monitor for surround sound. It really depends on what else you have connected to the amp.

If you are only using that amp with your PC and have HDMI output from your graphics card and if you aren't planning on producing music with live instruments (where other factors such as latency apply), you probably don't even need the Soundblaster as the graphics card will already output HD surround sound via HDMI and that amp supports HDMI input. The usual set-up for receivers like that is to connect the HDMI from the device into the receiver and then connect the HDMI out from the receiver to the screen - the amp takes care of everything else.

Just double check the amp's manual - the PC's output will be pretty standard so any potential problems should only come from the amp. If you need any more advice about the PC side of things, you'll need to tell us more about the PC including what graphics card you have - so we can be absolutely sure that it is bog-standard. Also confirm whether or not you'll be using a HD monitor with HDMI input.

 

[pompeybrum]

Thanks for that. The hdmi route sounds like it might work for me.
I'm using LG HD TV as monitor (via hdmi I hope).

My PC will include:
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard ASUS® P8P67 PRO (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s, CrossFireX™ & SLI
Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 460 - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready

Tony

 

[pengipete]

The GTX 460 outputs HD audio - upto 7.1 channels - so with that amp, you don't need anything else. You may need to change a setting in Windows but it's very simple to do - just post back if you need any help.