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when I turn up PCM in the mixer to 75%-80% the sound gets distorted
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That's normal, and happens in any system. What happens is that your sound goes through a preamp (the channel-specific volume levels). If the volume level on the preamp is too high, it can add artifacts to the sound wave that get picked up by the software post-amp and amplified, causing the distortion. The point of preamp is not to amplify the sound, but to set differences in different channels so that, for example, you hear the music in your games quieter than the voiceover, but without having to change the master volume every time a voice comes on. The distortion happens with hardware amplifiers too, if you turn the sound up too high for your speakers.
The Master volume is the one you should be changing, not the preamp. If that's at maximum, and it's still not loud enough for you, you should a) get your hearing checked
, and b) buy better speakers. A hardware amplifier can put out a much higher wattage from the master volume, and generally does a better job of amplifying the sound while maintaining sound quality anyway, so you may also consider getting a separate amplifier while you're at it. I've had really good experiences with my Cambridge Soundworks DTT setup, FWIW.
