Simviation Forums

In all of my hardware upgrading I have not installed a stand-alone sound card.  A tech told me that my integrated sound card uses about 25% of CPU cycles whereas a good stand-alone has on-board memory that makes the whole sound rendering process more efficient.

I have Vista Home Premium installed.  Could anyone recommend a good card, compatible with Vista and FSX, that I could install.

before you go buying a sound card, go into the DEVICE MANAGER and disable the sound card, then reboot and go into your BIOS and DISABLE the onboard sound and then reboot. If you see a jump in FSX performance then I can see the possibility of an add-on card but to tell you the truth, with modern motherboards the load from onboard is not what it was 2 years ago.

Its possible he is correct but I would question it and test first. By doing what I outlined it will remove the onboard sound from the system until you re-enable in the BIOS and the device manager.

Thanks Nick: I thought you were in deepest Alaska on that very comfortable sounding vessel of yours.  I can do the first part, but how do I get into the BIOS to turn off sound?  I know this is PC 101 but because of my low level of skills I have stayed away from that area.  Would the Giga tuner that came with the Mobo be the way?

I am in Alaska trolling the inside passage. The boat has a satellite uplink for internet and other communications.

As for the BIOS, your motherboard manual should tell you how to get into it. It

Satellite uplink, trolling the Inside Passage?  Sounds like your average pensioner!  Thanks for the advice and I will give it a try.  Ian