Welcome to the forum, Joe. Before we can begin to help you out we need to know about your core system--i.e. motherboard, cpu, sound-card, video-card, hard-drive, etc. Please also include the specs on these internal devices. Also, tell us if you have or plan to use any external equipment such as a mixer, pre-amp, speaker-monitors, an amplifier, etc. In the meantime I'll be working up a detailed response that will not only answer your current questions, but will also speak to the new questions that are sure to arise in direct relation to the new things you learn. Putting together a decent-sounding digital audio work-station may seem like a daunting task at first, but you'll find that a lot of reading will clear things up in due time. So, my first advice is for you to read up on the difference between recording using an internal sound-card versus recording direct to your hard-drive using an external hardware interface device. Among other things you will need to understand what is meant by analog to digital conversion (ADC) and digital to analog conversion (DAC). You will also need to understand what is meant by the term "latency". Specifically, it refers to the amount of "time" (measured in milli-seconds) that elapses between when a musical event is "supposed" to occur and when it actually does occur. Most humans cannot detect the difference between 0ms and around 30ms. Read up on latency and it will become clear how it is very critical to the recording process.
While the quality of internal sound-cards has improved significantly over the past few years, these improvements are accordingly reflected in their cost. Additionally, certain "compatability" issues can be a concern when using newly developed sound-cards in older systems. Often times older systems simply cannot make use of the more advanced features found on these newly developed sound-cards. Be sure to carefully read about the advantages of recording direct to your hard-drive, via FireWire or USB2, using external hardware audio interface devices such as the MOTU 828mkII or it's predecessor the MOTU 828. The 828mkII is not exactly for beginners, but I'm sure the original 828 (FireWire) can be purchased fairly reasonably--maybe $200 to $250. With an external hardware audio interface you don't even need a sound-card. Plus, these interfaces allow you to have more than the typical Left/Right inputs of most sound-cards. The MOTU 828 has six gold-plated TRS 24-bit ADC inputs, two XLR inputs equipped with mic preamps, standard ADAT SYNC IN, optical ADAT sync IN or s/PDIF OUT, 24-bit S/PDIF digital IN and OUT, and of course the standard 1394 FireWire connection to your pc that allows your recordings to go straight to disk.
This should be enough info to keep you busy for a couple of days. I definitely also advise you to consider an external amp and some decent near-field monitors. The amp/power provided by a pc is fine for powering pc-speakers, but it'll come across no where near as "musical" as real "stereo-speakers". Hope this helps. Talk again soon.
Introductory readings on PC-based music production systems:
digital 4-tracks, etc.
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/cat--2869
More advanced readings on PC-based music production systems:
http://www.lnlrecording.com/Scope.htm
