questions on khz/bits/soundcards/z5500 speakers

[omglol]

hi i dont know much about this topic (sound) but if you could help out, then ty

i just bought a brand new speaker system Logitech z5500, and bought the only sound card the store carried

http://www.dynexproducts.com/pc-190-8-dynex-51-channel-pci-sound-card.aspx

now, i am using a temporary computer that doesnt have onboard 5.1 support so i needed a sound card, in the future when i upgrade my whole computer, i assume my mobo will have built in many channels for audio. will this card still be better, and how good will it be now? should i get a better one?

what is the deal with my new z5500 speakers saying 96khz/24bit on the box, and this card supporting only 46khz/18bit, is there a big difference? where would i see the difference? i usually just listen to mp3's / play a few games..

thanks

 

[heyman421]

the only difference between a $20 sound card and a $200 sound card is onboard hardware decoders/effects, that effectively reduce cpu useage when playing back certain types of audio

for instance, the audigy 2 by creative has a chip onboard to do realtime dsp effects without needing any computer power, and the audigy 2 platinum plus has a hardware dvd-audio decoder. the difference in actual SOUND QUALITY is very very small.

 

[omglol]

hmmmmmmm ok thanks , that made sense