I just got a Hurcules Fortissimo 7.1 sound card as suggested by someone on this forum. Now when i play games that support EAX, i hear no rear sound. Ive played Halo, BF1942 DC Mod, and Americas Army. Evertime I throw a gernade and turn around to try to hear it blow up behind me its complete silence. Firefights in BF1942 cannot be heard behind me either. In Halo the plasma rifle sound cuts out(assuming its trying to channel rear sound). Of course my sound card settings are enabled for EAX and im using the optical input to my external receiver. My reciever is an AIWA 5.1 with an optical and coaxial spdif inputs. One rumor i heard is that EAX cannot pass through this digital output on the card. My reciever does not have any special inputs to accomodate front/rear/center/ect. Is it true that my EAX usless?

Some sound cards require you to use the analog outputs for EAX surround sound. The digital output is sometimes used for DVD playback so that the receiver can decode Dolby Digital signals. Consult your soundcard manual to see if this is the case. I have an audigy 2 card connected to a 6.1 receiver, the receiver does have 5.1 analog input however.

Yes indeed,,,my EAX is useless. My sound cards manual said EAX is analog only (total gayness) So what about games like Americas Army thats Dolby Digital? Will it pass though my optical cable? If that is a success lets all hope Half Life 2 is Dolby Digital as well.

I'd say that if you play lots of games and really miss those EAX effects(which I'm sure you do), try to get a different receiver. Maybe post yours on e-bay and with a little more cash buy another receiver that does have analog 5.1 inputs. The creative Audigy, Live!, etc.... don't have output for EAX via the digital out, so changing sound cards isn't a fix. Maybe in the future sound card makers will enable surround sound for games via the digital out.