Stick with Realteck HD On-board Sound? Or Go for Better 5.1 External Sound card?

[malice19]

Are you sure? Does it have 5.1 output? If so you should just be able to tell it to mirror the front two with the back two. Its a fairly basic feature on all cards in the last god knows how many years

I can not see any option to get it to remix my MP3's to 5.1
Does any one know any software that could do this for me/plug in for media player?

Cheers

[TooNice]

I think it depends how much you value your music to be honest. A lot of people are happy with the Realtek, but I still think they have way to go to replace a proper X-Fi. But since you've had one before, you are in a fairly good position to decide for yourself whether you are happy with Realtek or not (no point buying a discrete sound card if you are happy with what you have).

The biggest thing I have to warn regarding external (USB) sound card, is that they do eat a chunk of your system resource. Not a big deal for movies/music, but it's possible that you might notice it in games. Then again, last time I tried a USB sound card was before the multi-core goodness. Still, you might want to investigate that a little.

If you mainly use your PC for movies/music though, you've got more options. For movies, I am lean toward Creative cards simply because the X-Fi CMSS + Headphone is fantastic to my ears. If you are more into music listening, then consider an external DAC (USB or Optical). You'll find some which are better than the X-Fi, without obviously without the DSP. If you consider this route, you'll need to state a budget though, they usually go from the price of a sound card to more than the price of a 8800 Ultra.

[malice19]

Hummmm .... Really Miss have music remixed and played through 5.1

Sod it, have ordered the Creative surround 5.1 and see how good it is... even if i just use it for the music side?