Help With Radeon 6770 HDMI Setup

Hello there,

I am trying to run my Dell computer as a media center. The computer came with an older Radeon card (4xxx series I believe) that didn't have HDMI output, so I just upgraded to an XFX HD6770 due to the really positive reviews with hopes of outputting the HDMI signal to my Denon receiver.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to get a rock solid HDMI output. I have it set at 1920 x 1080 and 60 Hz and the video cuts out a lot. What I mean is that my Panasonic plasma will go black, then after 10-20 seconds it'll come back on, stay stable for a minute or two, and then cut out again. This basically just keeps repeating.

It should be noted that I have my Dell 20" monitor hooked up to the DVI output of the card. However, in the Windows "Adjust Monitor Resolution", I have selected "Show Desktop Only On Monitor 1", (with monitor 1 being the Panasonic). The only reason I leave the monitor hooked up is because at times I have to use it since Unified Remote stops working when a windows User Account Control dialog pops up.

I can't figure this out at all. When it does work, it's great. Smooth 1080P playback bitstreaming DTS-HD in XBMX (though not in iTunes...but that's an issue for a whole other thread). As you can imagine, though, it pretty much defeats the purpose of having a HTPC if the video continually cuts out and is not stable.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I thought about running the HDMI directly to the TV to see if that would solve the issue, but I don't want to do that because then I will lose HD audio playback of my Blu-Ray rips.

Are PC's compatible running into AV receivers?? Has anyone had success in doing so? Please help!

Thank you,

Kyle

P.S. Just an FYI, I don't believe it to be an HDCP issue as in the Catalyst Control Center it says my devices are HDCP compliant.