Win 7 and high def audio 5.1

I actually have a few questions

1. What is sample rate? When i use high def audio, it defaults to 16-bit 44100Hz. I changed this to 24-bit 96000Hz and my music plays fine. Is this a bad thing that I changed it?

2. Is there a way I can get my music to play in 5.1 using High def audio? When I had my xtrememusic soundcard, there was a program, where you could enable all 5 speakers for music. Is there such thing for High def audio?

3. I have xtreme music sound card and cant get it to work with win7. I read around and this seems like a common problem. It doesn't really matter to me, just I like the fact i could utilize all my speakers with it. If there is a way to do it with High def audio it would be sweet.

I'm probable never going to use that xtrememusic sound card again, because it has given me tons of problems from when i first got it.

All help is appreciated,
Thanks in advance