Will my sound card support 5.1?

[Ste2]

Hey, I have a laptop, which I want to buy some 5.1 speakers to connect to it. I have a Realtek'97 Sound Card inside, and I've been told by my friend, who's a big speaker-fan, he has two MASSIVE Bose ones in his room, that it should be ok, and it should work. But I need a second opinion? Will it work or not? Any info would be great

 

[Crysalis]

most likely, you will only get sound of out the Front L&R and the sub. You will not get true 5.1 sound. You must have a soundcard (and for laptops, thats NOT common) that supports 5.1 either digitally or has multiple outputs for each channel.