I just want a good surround sound system I can plug my PC into and that sounds good and not break the bank.
Not gonna get this.
I'm not in the market for headphones
Its a better option than what you are trying for.
Right! Headphones are the best things to get when you want your friends to listen to your music all at the same time at your party!
If he wants a speaker system, he wants a freaking speaker system. There's a reason I got my Yamaha surround sound system for my computer instead of a pair of high end headphones.
OP, question for you - do you have other things you need to add to your sound system? For example, the Yamaha system I mentioned, the main receiver for it has multiple inputs and outputs - 4x HDMI in, 1 out; 2x component in, 1 out; 2x composite in, 1 out; and a few other miscellaneous items. Basically acts as a giant hub/switch.
A decent surround system can be had for ~$300. My Yamaha one was $450 + tax at Best Buy, it's pretty good, but by no means anything professional - one looking for that would piece out all of the components individually, not settle for a "Home Theater In A Box" as they're called.
If you go the multi-channel surround experience, I'd
STRONGLY recommend you invest in a basic sound card with digital audio out (I think I've seen them for as low as $20 on Newegg). Your board is only equipped for analogue out, save for that HDMI port (your stereo would need an HDMI port then to utilize that for audio). Either coaxial or optical digital out would work, I prefer optical, but they're both digital so it's not a huge deal. Buy any needed cables online off of Amazon or Monoprice or the likes.
[member='Originality'] - Maximum Watts are basically a useless term, Watts RMS is what actually matters - the RMS rating is how many watts it can output on average continuously per channel, the Maximum rating is a "if struck by lightning" number, lol; you're basically never going to reach it unless the planets are in alignment, you're running it behind a flux capacitor, that kind of stuff.
Keep in mind, your components need to have their RMS ratings match fairly well. If the amp is rated too many watts RMS over the speakers RMS rating, you easily risk blowing the speaker. If the speakers RMS rating is way over the amps rating, you're going to under drive the speaker, which will lead to sub-optimal sound and possible damage to the speaker as you turn it up higher to compensate for the lower wattage, thus introducing more speaker-killing distortion.
Ohms - indicates the resistance of the speaker. Amps will be rated to run at a certain Ohm load, usually 8, 4, or 2, some going down to 1 Ohm or even .5 Ohms. The lower the Ohm rating on the speaker, the less resistance it puts on the amp, allowing the amp to push more wattage through it (more power), tradeoff being the amp can get hotter. Higher Ohm rating on the speaker, less power will go through it, but the amp will run cooler. You don't want to run, say, a 1 Ohm subwoofer on an amp rated for a maximum of a 4 Ohm load, you'll over heat the amp very quickly, possibly under drive the speaker (and damage it), and it'll just be no fun.
I'm no expert, this is just stuff I'm learning as I go, researching as I set up my car stereo.
Edit - for the record, I should have bought my stereo off of Amazon. It's almost $150 below list price
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YHT-495BL-Complete-5-1-Channel-Theater/dp/B004S3HRCO