AC'97 2.2 compliant indicates extended audio, enhanced riser audio support, and optional S/PDIF.AC'97 2.1 compliant indicates extended audio feature set (optional variable rate, multichannel, etc.).AC'97 1.x compliant indicates fixed 48K sampling rate operation (non-extended feature set).In 2004 AC'97 was superseded by Intel High Definition Audio (HD Audio). Integrated audio is implemented with the AC'97 Codec on the motherboard, a Communications and Networking Riser (CNR) card, or an audio/modem riser (AMR) card.

AC'97 supports a 96 kHz sampling rate at 20-bit stereo resolution and a 48 kHz sampling rate at 20-bit stereo resolution for multichannel recording and playback.ĪC97 defines a maximum of 6 channels of analog audio output, whereas HD Audio has the capability to define many more channels but in practice most motherboards only allow for up to 8 channels. AC'97 defines a high-quality, 16- or 20-bit audio architecture with surround sound support for the PC. AC'97 (short for Audio Codec '97 also MC'97, short for Modem Codec '97) is Intel Corporation's Audio Codec standard developed by the Intel Architecture Labs in 1997, and used mainly in motherboards, modems, and sound cards.Īudio components integrated into chipsets consist of two components: an AC'97 digital controller (DC97), which is built into the I/O Controller Hub (ICH) of the chipset, and an AC'97 audio and modem codecs, which is the analog component of the architecture.

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