On the advice of various folks I decided to give the onboard sound a try as opposed to my Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard. My speakers are Klipsch 2.1. Unless there's something wrong, the sound is not even close to being as crisp as with my TBSC. With both Mp3 and Wma the sound is "fuzzy" at modest volume. Any tweaks or is this be best I can expect? Thought I'd post before taking the TBSC out of my other pc. Thx for any info. Gary

I guess you could have a driver problem, the alc650 6 channel audio onboard is probably better than most sound cards the deluxe a7n8x has the sound storm option. note; 6 channel, your 2.1 isnt going to be much good enhanced stereo at the most. download the winamp 5.01 pro and test some music or visit dare i say it pc world & test theirs out in store. check your direct x is ok, run dxdiag . Mine runs fine with a cheapo THX altec lansing quad speakers and sub, in dolby digital/pro or stereox2 and quad; Eax is a bit dodgy (but thats software driven i think ut03?) try using the online update for xp and asus. or buy a decent 5.1 system. eg; Inspire 6.1 6700 , videologics zxr 550 even creatives latest offerings are tops for value and performance. steer clear of systems not designed for pc's why? because these ppl dont play games or music on pc's ive run a number of sound sytems for customers and its suprising most ppl cant tell the difference from med to top range (read expensive) systems but tell them the price or brand and "oh that sounds much better (now ive been ripped off)" ,lol. do your self a favour & trade up. ;)