Hi there,

I have often toyed with the idea of a sound card but the deciding whether its worth the money has always made me hesitate. I was on the creative website and looking at a couple of the x-fi sound cards with i/o panels and an idea popped in to my head. If i was to buy a sound card with an I/O, say for example the soundblaster x-fi platinum with the i/o panel, looking at the connections on it, would it be possible to plug my PS3 into the panel through the optical connection and my tv through the rca connection so the sound could be played through my computer speakers? If so, which sound card would you recommend (doesn't have to be creative aslong as it has i/o panel or required input connections). If not, is something like this possible? And lastly is it worth it?

My current setup is as follows:

Mobo: Nvidia nforce 680i sli
GPU: Nvidia geforce 8800gtx
CPU Intel C2D e6750
Mem: 2x1GB Corsair DDR2 PC6400 (800Mhz)
HDD1: WD Raptor 150GB
HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 320GB
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos 1000
Drive 1: Polaroid CDRW
Drive 2: Lite-On DVDRW Lightscribe
Speakers: Creative P5800
Monitor: Asus MW221U 22"

If i have left information out that would be useful let me know and i will add that in. Any suggestions/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Tom

from what i've heard, the creative cards are not able to send out true 5.1 through the optical in/outs unless it's something pre-rendered (like a dvd).

The issue Nik_I mentioned will not occur from a ps3. If you set up the PS3 to output either Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS, and then use an optical cable (the only cable that will work) it will hit the soundcard in the same manner as a dvd. The output will be discrete 5.1 from the attached spearkers (assuming they are connected correctly)

Another option that would not be "true" 5.1 would be to run the Red-White audio cables from the PS3 to the soundcard, and let the sound card do a "matrix" surround mode. Typically there are enough presets within the soundcard to make whatever you are listening to sound good enough, and use all 6 speakers.