I guess so, I can't think of anything else though. If you have a laptop, chances are, it doesn't have any build-in 5.1 card, not many laptops do except for the expensive ones. If you want to use the speakers on your desktop, just buy a PCI 5.1 sound card, else the only option I know for a laptop is a USB external sound card like the one mention. The external card should work for both laptop and desktop so you wouldn't really need another PCI sound card.