When I try to play games on steam (i.e. HL2, and CS:S) The sound only comes out of the center and sub-woofer of my 5.1 speaker set up. I am using just the onboard sound Realtek AC '97. Everything is connected correctly and sound does come out of the speakers on other programs.

try to go to Control Panel->sound and audio device->click advance on speaker setting->choose 5.1 surround sound there. P4 3.2GHZ kingstone 1GB DDR 3200 ABIT AS8 mobo Nvidia geforce 6800 128mb Soundblaster 24-bit audigy 2 520W PSU

This is a driver issue with Realtek AC '97 and steam, (which was mentioned on their site by people experiencing the same with Steam games) but has been resolved already with an updated driver release. Check out your mobo's website and get the latest sound driver. Have fun dying in CS:S when I'm shotting you in the head!! PS: What server do you play on? CHIPSET---i865pe CPU---------Prescott 2.8ghz @ 4004Mhz 286x14 FSB---------@ 1144Mhz RAM-------512x2 in dual config @ 430mhz GPU--------PNY 6800 16x1,5vp OS----------WinXP SP2 HDD-------36gig WD Raptor