What's your budget?

I can push $300 to $350.

How about an Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 sound card with a Logitech G51 5.1 surround sound speaker system? It'll be ~$315.

$300 is a lot to spend on speakers and a dedicated sound card. Most motherboards these days have great on-board sound chips that produce nice quality sound. Are you sure you want to spend that much on audio when some of that money could be put elsewhere? I would recommend lowering your budget or try using a nice set of speakers with your motherboard first and if you are still not getting the sound quality you like, then you can go out and purchase a dedicated sound card.

Z5500 are really nice speakers. But they hit that $300 mark without a soundcard. It's probably better invested that way though.

Im going to have to disagree with Warmacblu. There is a noticeable difference in sound when comparing on-board sound to a separate sound card. The quality is much more superior. On-board is just garbage IMHO

I never said there wasn't a noticeable difference, I just said on-board sound can produce nice quality sound. Personally, I use a dedicated sound card and I like it better just because on-board drivers don't give you all the great options. I use a very old Audigy 2 that I ripped from my parents Dell they bought 5 years ago and it works great for me. I have been looking for a nice sound card upgrade but there aren't any reasonably priced ones which will give much better sound than the one I already have.

On board does bring load to the CPU, soundcards are completely discrete and they just depend on their SPU.

thats a good card. I would keep the card you have. I had the exact card but switched to the ASUS Xonar DX1. Its a little better and supports 7.1 speakers which most people do NOT have. Is it worth the upgrade over the Audigy 2 and the extra $60? probably not.

I was looking at an ASUS dedicated card simply because the driver support. However, there are plenty of people who develop their own Audigy drivers and submit them to the support forums which work quite well. Perhaps for some holiday or birthday gift, I could ask for a new sound card but thanks for letting me know that it's not a huge upgrade.

Well, I have a Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 and a home audio setup, but that's a little bit more than most need. I'd recommend checking out Logitech's site for all-in-one speakers.