Windows 7 - Install AGP Drivers for HD 3850, 3650, 2400 PRO

If your motherboard is nForce3 or lower, don't bother because it will not work. Full system (meaning new computer) is recommended for Windows 7.

I have an HD 3450 512MB AGP card installed in my Dell Dimension 8300. Just got the card & the display works great, installed without a hitch using the latest ATi drivers. However, I've attempted to hook up the system to a 42" LG plasma for use as a media center and cannot get the HDMI audio to function. The display functions correctly, but not the audio. I tried using the method in the original post, but no success. Is there anything else I can do? Many thanks in advance for any help!

Yes. First check the device manager under sound part that ATI is there and working well.

Then if it is, right click the speaker icon in the system tray near the clock. Playback devices. Choose ATI one as the default output. If you don't see it, right click on any choice and then set it to show disabled and also disconnected devices.

Sorry, should have posted that extra info. The device manager shows the ATi is in there, but only under Displays, not Sound devices. Also, it does not show up in the "playback devices" section.

Then you should have an exclamation point in the device manager for an unknown device or something like that, in sound section. Use the device manager to install the driver for it. Or run setup.exe.

If you don't have it in sound section or any exclamation points there, unfortunately, there's not much more I could say besides making sure everything else is up to date like bios, chipset drivers, etc...

Then go into bios and disable everything not in use like parallel port, serial port, floppy etc...

Nope, no exclamation points...Bios & chipset are up-to-date as far as I can find on Dell's site. Could this be an issue of me having installed Windows 7 on here instead of XP? I could put XP back on here, but I'd prefer to stick with 7 if at all possible.

After hearing back from Sapphire, I have been informed that this card does not support audio via HDMI, something not outlined in the product description. Looks like I'll be returning & in the market for another card. Any recommendations for an AGP card with HDMI audio (native preferred, no adapter) on the cheap?

You can run audio from your onboard out to your tv if you wish. It's really easy if your computer speaker system has an available output to serve the tv. If not, you can run a splitter from the output of the computer audio to the computer speakers and tv at the same time.

As far as a new AGP card goes and cheap...not really sure about the cheap part....but you can look at anything in the HD 4xxx line and it should be well.

But try out my idea first. If you need help selecting a splitter cable, tell me what kind of input you have to the tv. Are they RCA jack inputs?

IMHO: Save yourself a lot of grief... AGP and windows 7 are not the best mix. ATI driver updates are good for ATI AMD cards, but are hit & miss for off brand and sadly AGP support is being curtailed.

Consider a MB update.

AGP is awesome on Win 7. I have 7.0 WEI for both graphics scores with 256 bit memory. It depends on your hardware. This thread outlines how to install WDDM 1.1 driver.