Hi all!I currently have an on-board audio chip (my m/b has an Nforce2 chipset). Because of that, I lose 5-10 fps in FS9 (I noticed a gain of 5-10 fps when sounds are off). I've read that with a good sound card there are no fps losses. So, what model of sound card can you recommend? I need just a basic one...Anyway, is there a way to avoid fps losses with on board chip?Thanks.

You could get a nforce 2 soundstorm mainboard. Especially if you have digital speakers :).Anyway I do assume your mainboard don

Creative makes pretty nice hardware, but their drivers (and driver support) is abysmal. If you decide to go with a Creative sound card take a look at the kx Project drivers. Less than 5MB of drivers vs. 600 MB from Creative. And the kx Project drivers work great.http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1Greg

http://www.tomshardware.com/game/20030405/index.htmlnuff said

Hi, I currently use onboard sound from an "NFORCE" not NForce2) MC-D chip on my ASUS A7N266_VM MoBo, I suffer a lot of PC crashes which MS reports are due to device drivers, but, cannot specify which.I find if I turn down sound acceleration they occur less often.I also use FS Start to turn off unused services.I was considering buying the Soundblaster live 24bit external Sound card, would this work with my system and maybe give me any improvement in my CTD'sI fly online with VATSIM and am currently using the LDS 767 or PMDG 737.ASUS A7N266-VM768 mb DDR RAMExcalibur 9600 Pro 128Mb Omega drivers (latest)Latest NFORCE Drivers (SoundStorm from guru)Windows XP pro SP2FS2004 SP1Appreciate any helpTerry

Hi Further to my previous comment I have now found an Audigy External Sound Card which is in my price range, (i.e. I have permission from Executive Director of Domestic Management).Will an external Sound Card conected by USB give the same quality as a PCI Card, I only have one spare slot which is a bit tight beneath the AGP slot.ThanksTerry