Front panel Not working :( Solutions ?

So the front panel headphone socket in my pc doesn't work. I tried re-soldering and even trying to aquire a new socket to attach to the pcb on the front panel but it seems they are not generic to the case/pcb i have etc.

So..... What i want to achieve is to have my speakers for gaming and my headphones for comms at the same time, i miss having quality for music i listen to.

To get round this initially i bought a usb pen sound card for my headphones but the quality is abhorrent. I have a pair of Seinheisser 360 headphones, so i guess i want to justify spending what i consider a resonable abount on the headphones to the quality i am getting.

What i'm looking at doing is buying a audigy/xonar sound card and having the speakers thru onboard and headphones thru soundcard because i guess from what i read you can't have both (speakers and headphones/mic) on one soundcard.

Is this a viable solution ? Will i get conflicts if i do this ? I don't really want to be splitting wires from my mobo connector and attaching sockets because my eyes are shot, or getting another case.

I guess why i am posting here is that maybe there is something fundemental i am missing, i'm not too clued up on how audio works on a pc, so any advice is welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Steve