Sound Card

[macca22au]

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.

[Nick N]

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.

[macca22au]

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?

[Nick N]

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

[macca22au]

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