sound card or onboard audio?

I have a Soyo K7v Dragon +. It comes with "on-board 5.1 sound". My ultimate goal is to run my PC's sound through a home theatre dolby/dts receiver (like the ones you see at best buy). But I'm wondering if my onboard sound will mesh right with the receiver when I play games, for example. Do you think I need an additional sound card to attain effective surround sound?

I disagree there. The C-Media chip that is integrated on his motherboard has the features and performance of a SB Live! If he likes the quality then he can stay with the C-Media. If he wants improved sound-quality over that of his on-board chip (which is comparable in quality to an SB Live) then he can get a separate card. In that cause, I recommend the Hercules Game Theater XP or the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Both are based on the same chip and sound AMAZING!

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

Now which do you think is better between those two? The Hercules card or the Turtle Beach card?

If the c-media onboard has a digital out that you can hook up to your av gear I see no reason why it wouldn't rock. If it doesn't then the 5.1 hookup might be interesting to wire up (assuming you have a 5 channel input on your receiver).

So unless you pick up some distortion or something from the onboard I wouldn't run out to buy an additional card. Give it a try and see what it's like.