Need a sound card for my new $3k AUD build

Hey Everyone,

So here's the setup.
I'm looking at building my last ball-tearing gaming rig for quite a few years.
I'm going to drop about $3k AUD on it and have it all specced out except for 1 component.... the sound card.

Ive been happily putting up with the integrated solutions for quite some time but feel that this rig deserves its own dedicated sound board.

I have a set of 5.1 Logitech speakers that I can use.
Each of the satellite speakers all plug into the sub (which powers it all) and from the sub, the usual 3-plug setup into the rear of the PC.

Preferably I would like true EAX etc, and not have to buy a new speaker set.

So.... what are/is everyone's recommendation?

Well I have a Xonar D2X and it's great. I find Asus' drivers slightly better than Creative's, but they're still not very good.

Ahh, that looks like what I am after.
I remember the days when Creative was the only place to look for PC Audio

Yeah ever since Vista dropped support for hardware acceleration Creative's lead has dropped dramatically.

In all honesty the D2X is overkill for my Z5500 speakers and it sounds like you have a similar setup. Didn't hear much difference coming from the much cheaper X-Fi Xtreme Gamer. Only reason I upgraded the sound card was because I needed a PCI-E instead of PCI card (PCI slots were covered by GPUs). New speakers are next on my list for upgrades though

I'd get a better speakers instead. any 5.1 from logitech is nothing when you have budget to spare. if you use a dedicated receiver plus 5/7.1 speakers then you can use HDMI and skip the soundcard altogether.

I already have a 7.1 dedicated receiver and some really good speakers setup for my home theater.
I dont need to replicate that setup on my PC as I wont be watching :Traditional" media through my PC, its more to get the best gaming sound I can for the budget I have set.

In that case I reckon something like a Xonar DGX will be fine. I doubt there will be a noticeable difference between that and higher end cards when gaming.