jaxsedrin, you may want to try out SoundSource, an menu-residing app, which lets you do exactly what you want: put out systemalerts on the laptop output while giving the rest the the soundcard.

it's right now exactly my setup.

I use this to pipe audio from certain media apps (VLC, iTunes, etc.) to my stereo via an external USB audio device, while keeping system alerts and other stuff (like Adium) on my laptop's built-in speakers. At this point, I simply could not live without this tool.

Which is why upgrading to Leopard or an Intel mac scares the crap out of me... development and support for this app has stopped and AFAIK it's not Leopard OR Intel compatible.

So... does anyone know of a Leopard/Intel-compatible alternative???

Bingo. PERFECT! I can finally adjust the volume of some of my older apps and games, and a bunch of ported programs that don't have audio settings!

One thing that should be noted, as it states in their website: this can not change system alert volumes. So, things like mail alerts and whatnot will be unaffected.