cheapest solution to turn old pc into surround receiver for gaming?

[tsantsa]

I have an old pc with an amd 1800 that I want to use as a surround sound unit for my xbox 360. I have a soundcard in it but I don't know if it will work with a spdif input seperately. Would I have to buy a new soundcard with a spdif input built into it or can I just get a seperate card and it work? also the cheapest way I can do it is a plus!

Also, would I have to run any other software to decode the audio?

[Krispy Kritter]

Why are you even bothering with a PC? Run your audio straight into your receiver (or into a receiver).

[yoda313]

Why are you even bothering with a PC? Run your audio straight into your receiver (or into a receiver).

I think the point of the post is to do it without a dedicated ac3/dts capable receiver.

You can but you need at least a 5.1 enabled soundcard. I don't think you'll be able to use the computer as a passthrough option. From what I've been told soundcards with fiber optic inputs can only process realtime file transfers. They won't automatically decode the audio. That has to be done afterwards.

In the long run you are far better off investing in a real 5.1 audio receiver with at least ac3 5.1 dolby digital decoding. They have hit rock bottom if you get the NON HDMI models.

You should be able to get them in the 100-200 range easily (USD of course).

If you look on amazon or ebay or whatever I'm sure you can find them used at a much better rate.