I spent a lot of time surfing the net looking for help on this and didn't find much and never found any definitive "it works" so I thought I'd start a thread for those the might want to do the same thing.

First a little background.  I built my first HTPC over the past few weeks.  I didn't realize until after building it that the High Def audio on board (Intel DG35EC motherboard) was just not cutting it when I hooked it up to my Sony STR-DA2ES.  The STR-DA2ES has separate analog and digital processing paths...I eventually realized that I needed a digital sound connection between the HTPC and the Sony.

But my Intel DG35EC motherboard didn't have SPDIF out on the rear panel.  Instead, it only had a SPDIF header, which was supposedly provided for connecting to certain video cards which offered HDMI output but didn't have access to digital sound on the motherboard.

I imagined that I could use the SPDIF header for a rear panel connection, using some sort of adapter, but I couldn't find anywhere on the web where somebody had done this, and had confirmed that it worked.  A few ASUS mboard owners reportedly were using the ASUS SPDIF module, but nobody else had reported in.

So I'm here to tell you that the ASUS SPDIF module  (with the 3-wire connector into the 4-position plug) can be used with the Intel DG35EC, and probably any other motherboard with a SPDIF header that provides Vcc, SPDIF, and ground.  All that's required is some careful X-acto work on the connector to make it fit the 3-pin header on the Intel motherboard.  Check your mboard's product guide for which pin is where, Vcc, SPDIF signal, and ground.  Then do the simple cutting and sanding/shaving to get the 3 wires to their correct pins on the motherboard, and presto, you have rear-panel SPDIF both coaxial and optical outputs.

There is a noticeable improvement in the sound this way, versus using 3 3.5mm plugs routing the six analog signals available on the motherboard back panel.  Well worth the $20 for the ASUS adapter.

Anybody else who has tried this with other motherboards is invited to check in here with their results.