Question The last Sound Blaster 7.1 card?

[ReadyToPlay]

My current 7.1 sound card is Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality, which is a PCI card. I'm upgrading my PC soon, so I will likely need a PCI-E card. But my problem is that all the SB cards from the last few years seem to be 5.1 only - Z-series, AE-5, AE-7, AE-9. I need a 7.1 card because my PC speakers are 7.1 (Creative P7800 , which I bought for only $80 new in 2006). And I can't just get any 7.1 card to work with it. I must have a Creative 7.1 card because Creative uses different channel assignments from other brands. Both my X-Fi and P7800 7.1 speakers use these assignments (as shown in this page from the manual):

Ports from top to bottom:

• Front L/R
• Rear L/R, Side R
• Front Center, Subwoofer, Side L

But other brands of audio hardware use different assignments, such as my ASUS motherboard's onboard audio, whose port assignments are shown below in this picture :

Lime port: Front L/R
Orange port: Center/Subwoofer
Black port: Rear L/R
Grey port: Side L/R

That means my Creative 7.1 speakers are only compatible with Creative 7.1 sound cards.

But when I looked for Creative 7.1 sound cards, I was disappointed to see that the latest one was Audigy Rx from 2013, which actually uses an EMU chip made in 2004! Even my current X-Fi Fatality uses a 2005 chip that is one generation ahead. But the Rx does have the same audio port assignments that I need, as expected from a Creative product. And it has PCI-E.

I have considered getting other brands of 7.1 speakers, but 5.1/7.1 speakers for the PC are no longer a thing anymore. Most gamers today use sound bars, 2.0/2.1 speakers, headphones, or home theater audio receivers. 5.1/7.1 PC speakers stopped being made 10+ years ago, and the ones available all have jacked-up prices that I don't want to pay. (My 80-dollar P7800 speakers now costs $400 on Amazon.)

So should I just give up my 7.1 speakers or is there a setup that suits my need that I'm not aware of? I can't use my X-Fi since it is PCI. So is Audigy Rx that uses 2004 technology my only option for 7.1?

 

[Eximo]

I'm not much of an audiophile but I imagine you can software reassign any configuration to work with any set of speakers.

Literally tons of 7.1 PCIe sound cards. Though, if that is your concern, simply get a motherboard with the appropriate sound chipset.

The common Realtek ALC1220 is 7.1 capable.

I think you may be overthinking this.

 

[ReadyToPlay]

I not only overthought, but was outright mistaken. My P7800 actually accepts inputs into 4 ports (front, rear, side, center+sub). So now I have more options with sound cards, such as the X-Fi Titanium 7.1 PCIe card that outputs to 4 ports. My current X-Fi Fatality 7.1 card only outputs to 3 ports (front, rear+side R, center+sub+side L), so I mistakenly thought my P7800 only accepted 3 ports. 4 ports for 7.1 is really the industry standard and is used in a lot more products, which allows me more choices. My biggest problem is solved.