Does surround sound helps on gaming?

[MESSERR]

my motherboard able to output 7.1 surround, but i only use the stereo configuration. So im planning to get a home theater to use all the outputs from the motherboard.

 

1. Does gaming with 7.1 surround help my gaming performance?

2. Is it really improve my gaming experience?

[Praesi]

Depending on the Game, it can enhance your Experience. Does it make you a better Player? No.

[Shammikit]

Some games like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice could make good use of it. I would play it in headphones however not external audio devices. 

[Stahlmann]

True surround, as with surround speakers can help in terms of audio location. But virtual surround with headphones is mostly garbage.

 

True surround speakers  will help you to locate targets easier, but won't make you a better gamer.

[rice guru]

Depend so. Your ears and the games you play. Many games just have it built in and adding more can just kinda break it

[an actual squirrel]

You want to make sure the speaker placement is reasonable and the room acoustics are good, and that windows is configured for surround sound. But it technically can give you a competitive advantage. For example, with stereo, you don't have the ability to discern front vs back without rotating. So think of a battle royal game where the ring is closing and you are running in a straight line - you will lose an entire dimension of audio information. Think of a class based shooter with a tank class that has to push forward. Think of a sniper that is pre-aiming. In all these cases, using stereo will put you at a disadvantage.

[geo3]

For speakers, yes.

For headphones, not really. Most of it is a horrible useless gimmick. Some things are passable, but still fairly meh. The Sennheiser GSX 1000 would be your best bet here. Or you could try the free virtual surround feature built into windows.  But that's a case of you getting what you paid for.  I think there's a newer DSP box from Sennheiser that may be better but I've not looked into it.