Will the Xtreme Audio PCIE do what i need?

[sswats]

I am currently using onboard sound, which is not a problem because i'm mainly using for movies and with AC3 using the optical out and the amp does the processing.
I have a pretty good home cinema system (onkyo 505 and Tannoy FX5.1), and so the onboard sound was doing minimal work and everything sounds good in surround sound.

Now i want to use for games every now and again also, so optical will not do for surround sound and onboard sound is a bit cack.
I'm not willing to spend to much cos I'm not a massive PC gamer which is why the Xtreme audio PCI-E caught my eye.

Question is I know its processing isn't as good as the Xtreme music, so will it still let me send an optical signal out and let the amp do the processing for movies?

And if it does do i have to keep switching back and forth between analogue and digital or is a signal given out on both constantly?

Finally is there an alternative thats good for games and movies. Not fussed at all about music.

 

[sswats]

Sorry follow up question, are the optical outs on the Xtreme Audio full size standard optical outs or do i need an adaptor

 

[sswats]

Thanks for the review. Helpful
I purchased it now.

When i switched to digital, I still got an anlogue surround signal from the analogue on the Xfi audio. so yes it does output both (but you have to set vista to use spdif as default)

I've tried it in both XP and Vista 32 and it worked. Vista 64 didn't accept the creative drivers.