followup to my previous sound-card/driver question

[Robroy Gregg]

'morning Chris,

On Thu, 1 Feb 2018, C Gray wrote:

> I just want some audio for my Python/PHP/Java/Javascript/Perl/C 
> development server.

For this use I'd recommend skipping the internal sound card all together, 
and buying an external, USB-connected sound card (DAC).  This one works 
fine for me with FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE in a USB 2.0 port:

    http://www.m-audio.com/products/view/micro-dac-24-192

I bought one through eBay for $49.  You just plug this item in to any USB 
2.0 or 3.0 port (no penalty for 2.0), plug your headphones in, and you 
have sound--and the sound quality seems excellent.

A USB connected sound card may seem hokey, but I gather from the more 
audio-inclined that it's a nicer design since it's less subject to EMI 
than internal cards.

To respond to your other questions about PCI-e card mixing'n'matching, 
here are a few goofy things I did recently that completely worked (also 
with 11.1-RELEASE):

   a]  A QLE2562 (PCI-e 2.0 x8) card in a PCI-e 3.0 x4 slot

   b]  An nVidia PCI-e 3.0 x16 card in a PCI-e 2.0 x8 slot

Yet I think you'll be better off using the external DAC and saving your 
PCI-e slots for a card that can actually use the bandwidth.

Days of joy to you Chris