As with many addon developers PMDG reccomends that we use a seperate sound card.Q1) Does this free up resources for FS or does it just improve sound quality (assuming the sound card is a better spec than the on-board audio)?Q2) Is there then any advantage when running FS to use a sound card who's quality is not as good as teh on-board audio?

Django,Where is this recommendation from us you're seeing?1. Having a dedicated sound card often frees up CPU cycles. It's the same thing as what 3D acceleration does for graphics - prior to 3D cards, your CPU did all the graphics work. Many onboard sound chipsets use the host CPU for processing instead of doing the acceleration on the sound chip. This can lead to some minor FPS loss if it's using a lot of CPU. The actual sound specs aren't really what matter unless you're looking to use advanced features like EAX etc.2. Same thing really. It's about what kind of drain the card puts on the CPU, not necessarily the actual audio specs of the card.I personally have an Audigy 2 ZS. Creative Labs is basically the only game in town as far as actual accelerated sound cards go. The X-Fi is their latest card, so I'd get that if you're gonna buy one.

Django,I've never seen that recommendation. I run an onboard AC97 audio device with very good results. See specs at the bottom of my sig.Hope it helps,