PC 5.1 sound issue

[gorfias]

Do I need a sound card for my PC?

I have a bluray and DVD on my PC and movies come in at 5.1 but games and streamed shows on Netflix do not. Would a new Soundblaster card help?

Surround sound is so awesome. At this time, I'm watching Luke destroy the Death Star. I'm thinking if this comes in at 5.1, why not Crysis 3 from Steam?

 

[AWAR]

Most integrated sound cards support 5.1 sound, the quality is usually adequate.

As for netflix, I never used it but I guess if there aren't any options for enabling surround sound a new soundcard won't make much of a difference.

 

[gorfias]

Most integrated sound cards support 5.1 sound, the quality is usually adequate.

As for netflix, I never used but I guess if there aren't any options for enabling surround sound a new soundcard won't make much of a difference.

Well, you've likely saved me $100.

At this time, my sound comes from a mother board that supposedly has 8 channels.

 

[SnowyGamester]

I don't know about Netflix but I know many (maybe the majority of) games don't actually support surround sound. The only ones I'm sure do are those made in the Source engine but having gone through most of my games when I got my 7.1 headset I didn't find any more that had it. If you're board has enough output channels to do it and you've got your hardware and software configured correctly you should be able to get it working but unfortunately outside of some DVDs and BluRays surround sound isn't all that common.