hi bigscreen

the intel harware you mentioned is a network card most probably built onto your motherboard. the nic bit stands for network interface card. i think it is a gigabit speed interface (hence the 1000 in the name). this means basically that you have a very fast network interface (10x normal)

i currently use an external creative sound card (was given it) and it manages 7.1 very very well indeed. having said that, any of the audigy cards from them will do this just as well.

as for the speakers - well i find this to be a very personal thing so i would advise auditioning some if poss and let your ears do the judging.......

skeeby