Sound Card Question

[Burt]

First post so bare with me. I looked everywhere but still can't find the answer I am looking for. I have a Asus Vii Gene on the way, and have a quick question about the sound. To use the Optical S/PDIF out do I need to install the sound FX card? I have the Logitech Z5500 speakers so it has an optical input but I am unsure if I need the sound card installed to use it. The reason I ask is I just think the card ruins the "clean" look I am going for, so if I don't need it, I won't install it. Thanks for your help.
FIY Build is:
Asus Vii Gene
Corsair Air 240 case
i7 4790K
16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 1866Mhz
EVGA GTX970 FTW
Corsair H105
Samsung 256GB 850 Pro SSD

[toronto699]

no u do not need a sound card on board audio will work , wonderfull speakers by the way I have those Z5500 also

[Quad5Ny]

That's correct the you skip the Digital-to-Analog conversion and the on-board amplifier but there still needs to be a audio codec/sound card/chip to pass data to the optical port.

Edit: Page 22 - http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1150/MAXIMUS-VII-GENE/e9752_maximus_vii_gene_ug_v2_for_web_on... -- See no audio chip, the entire audio 'solution' is on the SupremeFX card (which itself is just a re-branded Realtek ALC1150 w/custom drivers).

[Quad5Ny]

I don't think the board has a audio chip w/o the daughter card inserted. So yeah, you probably need it.

[Burt]

That is what I wasn't sure of. I didn't know if the board had to have an on board chip to output sound through SPDIF because I believe the amp is doing the processing? Is this correct?

[toronto699]

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.priceminister.com%2Foffer%...

[Burt]

This is just a shot in the dark, but does the Z97 chipset have anything to do with the SPDIF? According to the intel website on the overview it does have "Intel® High Definition Audio". I guess the best thing I can do is just try, but I think it will be more of a pain if it doesn't work because the sound card has to be screwed in from the back of the motherboard.

[Quad5Ny]

HD Audio is just a standard developed by Intel. It is up the board maker or sound card maker to implement it.

As for having to screw the sound card in, you can test the board outside of the case before putting everything together.

[Burt]

Sounds good. Thanks for all your help Quad5Ny.