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Does SC430 support Audio?
Hello,
Would appreciate feeback on this issue of audio on SC430 box.
Some background...
I am interested in buying PowerEdge SC430 with Intel Pentium D Processor 2.8GHz/2X1MB,800MHz FSB. More details are at
SC430 India
Surprisingly this system is very aggressively priced for India, which makes it a good buy. I plan to buy it after upgrading to 1GB RAM and 3NBD warranty. In fact the price is so low, it made me wonder if something is wrong with this machine (is it?).
I plan to install either Windows or SUSE Linux. My primary purpose of purchasing this machine is to run a dedicated software which is CPU intensive. The machine will not be connected to Internet or even the LAN. Pretty much just a processor intensive program will run on this machine for about 2 to 3 hours every day.
Every few minutes, the application provides audio feedback as it processes and analysis information. Just basic audio feedback from a pair of simple $10 speakers. I don't need any fancy speakers or high end sound card, the integrated audio should be fine.
The issue that is preventing me from ordering this machine is lack of information about onboard audio and audio ports.
Per specification, it is supposed to have audio, but the
'Product Views' ( rear view image ) does not show any audio ports. ( No ports to attach standard speaker? )
Lack of port to attach speakers made me curious, and I forward the query to Dell India, and but I have not heard back from them on the issue.
So I called up Dell USA and I was informed, yes it has integrated onboard audio but the sales person was not able to confirm if the onboard audio is disabled or why there is no standard audio out port to plug in a speaker. I was put on hold while the sales person tried to get more information from tech department, but the call got disconnected. The international call charges from India to USA are a bit high so I don't plan to call up Dell USA again soon!, and I hope I will get advise here.
So,
1) Is onboard audio disabled?
2) Is there a BIOS setting or some way to enable audio. ( I don't want to add or change any hardware. I guess it is not worth voiding the 3 year warranty i will paying extra for!)
3) If audio is available, where would one plugin speakers? (:smileysurprised:
( Assuming audio functionality is available and enabled, would USB speakers work? I am not familar with USB speakers)
Basic audio functionality is essential for the application I plan to run on this SC430 box, and I hope I dont have to drop the idea of buying this box , just due to 1 feature which is not clearly mentioned in documentation!
I would appreciate your feedback on this issue.
Thanks,
MI
- Thanks for your reply, SpeedStep.I am still not all clear on this.Is the onboad integrated audio hardware itself disabled?, and I would have to add an external usb sound card device? ( I don't plan to add anything inside the box as I am concerned about voiding warranty! )oris it, just the audio service is turned off by default in the Windows 2003 server? So once the audio service is enabled, in the Windows 2003 server and USB speakers plugged in, would audio become available?
I understand, the audio hardware or feature will not be supported by Dell, and that is fine, but I hope we are not talking about voiding ALL of my warranty, and Dell will not support the full box!!!. I hope this is not the case, I can live without audio capability on this box rather then void the warranty ( Ok, If my query sounds strange, please bear with me as I am buying a server for first time, so I am not sure what goes and what does not , and I have heard that Dell will void full warranty if any hardware not purchased from Dell is added to the systems!)Thanks - According to the product specs (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe430sc/en/ug/x9789aa0.htm#wp1053228) - it has these physical connectors and no audio:
Externally accessible
Back
NIC RJ-45 (for integrated 1-Gigabit NIC)
Serial 9-pin, DTE, 16550-compatible
USB Five 4-pin, version 2.0
Video 15-pin VGA
Front
USB Two 4-pin, version 2.0
Internally accessible
IDE channel 40-pin
SATA channels Four 7-pin
speedstep
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Posted May 30th, 2006 14:00