Recommend a sound card for under $120

PCI or PCI-E will both work when it comes to sound theres not enough information being exchanged for it to make a recognizable difference. However if your a gamer and you want to take advantage of 3D sound qualities your going to be leaning towards a PCI-E because the newer technology utilizes PCI-E. I currently have a Creative Fatal1ty X-Fi card which I love. I picked it up used on ebay for about $100.00.

Keep in mind if you run PCI-E card, there are some things you will have to do in the registry to get it to recongize. There is a known issue with the NVIDIA chipset and PCI-E sound cards (at least with the ASUS Xonar). There is a fix, so you should still consider it.

ASUS XONARDX 7.1 CHANNEL PCIE SOUND CARD
http://www.compuplus.com/i-Asus-XONA...e4jy3pg8229812
$76.99

Xonar D1 Sound Card
http://www.provantage.com/asus-90-ya...z~7ASU90KK.htm
$82.01

The Xonar D1 has an onboard connector for the front panel. I'm not sure if the DX does as well. It can "up-mix" 2.1 to 5.1 as well.

I bought a DX and it too has the front panel connector. Definately a major step up from onboard. Im having a great time ripping my cd collection onto my hard drive via Lossless/Exact Audio Copy. Sounds excellent. I have read about problems with Asus and Nvidia chipsets.

Auzentech Forte
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829156010