Sound card/speaker advice

[Navid]

ASUS P4P800 deluxe, P4 2.6GHz C.
On-board sound + 2.1 speakers (Altec Lansing ATP3).
Play shooter games like Half-Life, Hitman, Thief, Halo and Far Cry.
Don't play music on the PC.

Better gaming experience if I upgrade sound?
Upgrade the speakers or the sound card or both?
So many choices in the market for sound cards and speakers.
Which one do I get?
What is the difference between 5.1 and 7.1?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

Navid

 

[Dave C.]

ASUS P4P800 deluxe, P4 2.6GHz C.
On-board sound + 2.1 speakers (Altec Lansing ATP3).
Play shooter games like Half-Life, Hitman, Thief, Halo and Far Cry.
Don't play music on the PC.

Better gaming experience if I upgrade sound?

There is no need to upgrade unless you start using it for music. For now,
the best you can do is turn it up louder. -Dave

 

[Eric Weiss]

ASUS P4P800 deluxe, P4 2.6GHz C.
On-board sound + 2.1 speakers (Altec Lansing ATP3).
Play shooter games like Half-Life, Hitman, Thief, Halo and Far Cry.
Don't play music on the PC.

Better gaming experience if I upgrade sound?
Upgrade the speakers or the sound card or both?
So many choices in the market for sound cards and speakers.
Which one do I get?
What is the difference between 5.1 and 7.1?

I like the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card and Altec Lancing 251
speakers. Great price, great sound. Onboard sound usually comes across
sounding "tinny" to me.

For the best experience, run connect "aux out" on the card to "aux in" of
you home stereo. It's pretty damn radical if your game has good audio.....