b1ack1otus

I have a xonar ... the way for me to get the front panel port to work was through the software of Xonar essence...

I'm not sure about that speaker as I've never heard one myself, but for your price range .. I know Logitech z323 sounds pretty good when I heard it on display .. I think it was around $80 but I've seen it on sale for around $60

lol, well then .. I'm not sure what the op wants now haha

So, for my case I was able to restore the corrupted bios with the backup one.
 
Short answer: it's not dead.
 
 
Yes, I also read that this was a feature. But in my case, it didn't do it so I was left doing my own research 

Just a small advice, look into their warranty when buying stuff like this (unless you're going to mod it which will void it).
 
But personally, I would prefer corsair over OCZ just because I bought a mouse from the OCZ and it was dead after a year...
 
In any case, the specs seems good.
 
For how many watts to buy .. I would get 750 because I know that AMD uses more Watts compared to Intel and Nvidia for their CPU and GPU, so in the long run if you were to upgrade another GPU, you won't need to upgrade your PSU again.

if it comes to this point, see if you can go to a music store and try them on. 
that's what I did before I bought my pair of headphones and the guy at the store also gave some professional feedback (which one is the more popular and such)
 
If you're wondering I went to Cosmo music, not sure if they have a store at your location.

I personally like the Lenovo brand over the Asus for laptops. but both specs are pretty good.
One thing I would recommend to help you with deciding is the warranty that comes with both computer. 
 
I have a lenovo thinkpad and their customer service is very good. I never contacted asus customer support/service, so I'm not to sure about this. Look it up and see what others have to offer.
 
Since it's a gaming laptop, I'm assuming battery life won't matter for you as well. But if it does, check and see which one will last longer.
 
And I believe Hashwell is much better on battery life than IB.
 
Also, someone told me before that lenovo is a good brand because it's quiet and keeps the laptop quite cool. (don't quote me on that, but my thinkpad is very quiet and cool) ... not too sure for it's gaming brand.

Just a recommendation, there's a webiste that Linus used which will make your life easier to find all the installer once you do a reformat. 
 
the website is called: ninite.com
 
hope this helps.