Upgrading my sound system for PC

I love music and have now decided that I want to get a really nice sound system for my desktop but also not go crazy on the spending.

From an hour of research I found the following...

Speakers---
Logitech Z 5500 500 Watts-Approx $230.00

Logitech Z 5300 280 Watts-Approx $150.00

Sound cards
Creative 70SB046A00000 7.1 Approx $135.00
Creative 70SB046A00003 7.1 Approx $165.00


My question is...What are some of the things I need to think of prior to buying this stuff? Does it use a lot of the computers performance, do I need a bigger power supply? I have a 550.

Also, does anyone know if cheaper sound cards are just as good as these Creative 70SB046A00000s?

Thanks for the help!

How much is your budget?

From my experience the z5500 is the best system for a pc and they're absolutely amazing. The z5300e is just as amazing but smaller output and what not limits this.

For a soundcard what are you doing?

I've heard good things about the turtlebeach brand of cardfs and I personally use a xtrememusic card with remote on my pc going to an old akai receiver with 4 60watt speakers on it and its amazing.

If you dig around im sure you can get a better system by pieceing it together yourself.

I dont have a budget really I just could think of other things to spend money on like video cards or a new monitor but I decided Im going to go with the Logitech 5300 if it jumps down a little from 130 which I think it will. As far as a sound card, I have no idea...Ill probably see how it sounds on the standard one and go from there...

Any other advice?

Thanks

I personally don't see a bigg diff between a good onboard sound and a PCI sound card.
Especially with Graphic Equillizers (Tweaking)
The only REAL drawback I see with a onboard soundcard is it will use some CPU resources which will affect fps in games.
If you do game I wouldn't spend more than $50-$70 tops.
Just my opinion

do you have a need for multimedia pc speakers? i have a sony stereo system in place of pc speakers. i don't know if you really want to go w/ the logitech speakers or a stereo system; but, you do have other options.

Well I talked to my brother and he was saying I should just buy a home theatre system type thing and get a seperate sub and amp and all that shit which is a good idea but its going to cost a lot of money. I looked into the Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 Speakers and all the reviews are really good and best buy usually has them for a 100 dollars so im probably just going to go with those.

My friend used to have them and they are pretty damn good.

Thanks guys

i got those and they are amazing. I have them along with a soundblaster X-fi and I couldnt be happier with my sound system. It is amazing. I hear a lot of things I never did before with my old dell speakers and sounblaster live 24bit setup!

if you can get them for $100-$150 do it.

Could you send me a link to the sound card you got? I looked it up but their are so many things that came up.

Also, if their is anyone else that can recommend any sound cards that would help.

Thanks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16829102007

This is the no frills, cheap-o version. It hasnt gotten great reviews, but I honestly have never had a problem with it.

Could you give me an example of another decent sound card to get?

Are their certain sound cards that sound better on those speakers?

just go on newegg and look at all the PCI interface sound cards. Just check out the reviews and prices and pick one that seems right.