I bought a sound card for computers newer than the one I have. I need one for my old slot configuration; where can I get a good one?

haskellbob

New Member
Hello. Forgive me if I get technical terms wrong.
I have a Hewlett-Packard computer. Here's the blurb from Amazon when it was for sale:
HP Elite 8200 SFF Desktop PC - Intel Core i5-2400 3.1GHz 8GB

Now, here's the deal. I have a 7.1 A/V receiver now. I want to watch movies on my computer.
Can I get 7.1 surround from the computer I have? If so, I need a sound card, right? I bought one, naively thinking it would have the same base configuration my computer uses. No such luck. The HP has the DIMM configuration (did I get that right?) but the soundcard I got has something newer. I don't know what it's called, but I'd like to.

I also came across the name "PCI" in relation to the socket. Somebody just bring me up to date on the vocabulary. The problem is that the new card won't fit into the old slot and I'd like to get one that does, and one that makes my computer 7.1 capable. If that can be done.


I also don't understand how 7.1 sound would get to my A/V receiver. Obviously a 3.5mm output can't accomodate 7 channels. I heard that an HMDI cable can. So I guess I need to have an HDMI slot - which I don't - on my computer. How can I put one there, and can that be done with the same card that gives me 7.1 surround?

I'm glad to be corrected on any terminology I've got wrong.

Thanks for your help.

Bob H.
 
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