if you are so inclined, i would try to build external alsa; emerge alsa-headers,alsa-lib,alsa-driver & alsa-utils. there has been some compatibilities issues fixed for latest kernels in 1.0.14-rc3. i'm using it on my system and it's fine. i believe there is a new "nvidia-drivers" as well for latest kernels in portage.
best, g.
