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I don't know which sandy bridge chipsets support HD audio bitstream and which don't, but as a platform, HD audio bitstream is part of the sandy bridge spec. So, if you pick a sandy bridge motherboard with HDMI it should be supported.
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I'll have to try it once I receive my MoBo in a day or two ^_^
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Hm, how did I get it to work?
1. Load Windows.
2. Load all the latest Intel drivers (that were out a week ago) for the chipset, video, etc.
3. Load the program YOU recommended to prove if it works or not, and it can clearly be seen on the video to be bitstreaming HD audio.
I don't know why others can't get it to work... and frankly I don't imply the implication that I've worked some black magic or am bending the truth that it works. As I pointed out, when I used the program you recommended it very obviously was working, but there were audio dropouts. Maybe that's the issue people are complaining about, I don't know.
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I don't know, did the OP say that HD audio was important? XBMC officially does not support it and this will become increasingly painful as Eden rolls closer to release and all of the add-ons, skins, etc, are geared towards it.
I understand that you (and others) are trying to be helpful, but I think it's important to ask questions about what is important to a user rather than making recommendations based on what is important to yourself.
As far as GPU goes, the only reason I commented at all is that there appears to be a misconception about the capabilities of the onboard GPU in the sandy bridge chips. They are quite capable and certainly offer less headaches as far as driver settings, etc, than ATI. With ATI, you have to adjust overscan on multiple resolutions, deal with some color balance and other driver related problems.
So, anyways, I put my .02 cents in on this, try not to get offended about it.
//edit - I now see his post about wanting HD audio "in the future possibly" I did not see that eventually. However, if he does not need that right away then I don't see why he could not use the i3 onboard graphics initially and buy a GPU later if it turns out he needs it. If anything, GPU gets cheaper over time and/or more powerful.
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I just tested it with your XBMC special build, and HD audio also bitstreams there, but with dropouts. Possibly a codec/driver problem, but it is working, the hardware does support it.