Sound Card Newbie Questions - Halo Claro/Asus Xonar

Hey all, I know very little about computer audio and have never owned a sound card. I recently purchased the Sennheiser PC350 headset and I feel the quality is much lower than it could be as I'm using motherboard audio currently. After reading reviews and gathering information, I've decided to get either the Halo Claro Omega or Asus Xonar as they have built in amps and seem to be very high quality. I plan to mainly use the headset for music and gaming with the occasional movie. However, I have a bunch of questions about them if anyone could help. Here are the links as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132014&cm_re=asus_xonar-_-29-132-014-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271004&cm_re=halo_claro-_-29-271-004-_-Product

What do I have to do to set them up? Should I uninstall my motherboard audio drivers and/or disable onboard audio in BIOS? After physically installing the card, will I have to tune any settings to make it work best with my headset?

Do I simply have to plug my headset into the back of the card? Do they include standard headphone and mic ports?

How do I configure the cards to work with my case's front panel audio ports? I intend to keep my headphones plugged in the back, but I like to have the front ports available for my less used and lower quality speakers.

Finally, if anyone has any different suggestions knowing my situation, please let me know. Thanks a lot in advance

Quote:

Originally Posted by nat0 

Well with my soundcard I didn't bother uninstalling the onboard drivers or disabling on board sound in the BIOS at first but I eventually did just because it was a lot cleaner. Come to think of it I didn't have any onboard audio drivers except for the windows one.

 

Why don't you look at the specifications some more it seems as if your just asking others to do it for you.

 

As far as the front audio ports go, you just have to rewire it, its fairly straight forward I think. I didn't bother with mine though.

Thanks for the help. I have looked at the specifications and I believe I'm right, I just don't want to pull something really stupid and make a big mistake like that.

Do cards generally come with instructions on how to connect the front audio ports?