I was thinking about the Sounblaster Live 5.1 card, which seems to be cheap (about £25) and popular.

Its the speakers thought which are my biggest worry

The best value ones seem to be the Creative Inspire 5.1 P580..only trouble is they look very ugly

Also, the satelittle output is only 8w, and the sub output is 17w...now that doesnt seem a lot to me! will they sound decent? I dont need to have THE best sound available, but i want it clear, loud and bassy

Any 5.1 speakers people would recommend for around £50? Would spend slightly more if they were worth it but im not in the position to be able to spend like £100 on some

Anyone recommend? and also some good sites to buy from? Ebuyer seems crap for speakers, all the half decent ones are out of stock. Overclockers.co.uk seems ok for em but the range isnt enourmous

Any help is much much appreciated :)

It would probably be a good idea to spend a bit more and get a better sound card. Perhaps an OEM SB Audigy. I also just posted this link to a comparison review of speakers at Tom's hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/video/20030108/index.html) in another thread. It's very thorough and should give you an idea of exactly what you might need.

thnaks for the link elaine...had a quick look..ill look more in the morning
looks like u get what u pay for though :(

and about the audigy card...they seem to be around £40 - £50...thats just way too much for me to spend on a card...specilly if the speakers were gonna be around 60...cus i need to keep it under £100 :)

thanks tho :)

i know you're looking for a 5.1 speaker, but I would recommend you to get 2.1 JBL Creature. Not only do these speakers look stylish, they bump loud as hell. Plus, the clarity is better than most 2.1 speakers out there in the market.