Hello,I am contemplating buying a sound card. Right now I use the sound card integrated on my motherboard (A8N32 SLI Deluxe with Realtek integrated audio). Normally I use my Labtec USB headset and not speakers. My question is, does my usb headset use the integrated sound card or is the usb sound software accelerated via the usbaudio.sys? I.e. is the usb sound "produced" in the sound card and then just distributed through usb or is the sound card not involved at all in the usb sound? I have searched several forums but have not been able to find the answer to this question.The reason for wanting a separate sound card is that the sound stutters for a short while when I change cockpit view etc which is quite irritating. I also hope to improve fps when using a separate sound card.Thanks for advice about this and also about which sound card to buy.Best regardsKrister R

A USB headset is a standalone device - it won't use any "power" from the onboard sound.If you are getting stutters, it could be lots of things. A PCI sound card *may* help, but it could also be a complete waste of money. For example, I had sound pops and stutters on an old system and it turned out to be I needed to update the chipset drivers.At this point, rather than spending $, maybe you could grab all the latest drivers and try that?Edit: if it is only stuttering changing views, perhaps it is a short term lack of memory problem (ie not enough RAM to do everything or a bottleneck in the motherboard). Maybe post up your complete specs?

Thanks for reply!I understand from what you say that the sound card (whether integrated on the motherboard or a separate sound card) is no factor at all regarding usb sound. Which means that the usb sound is software accelerated. According to DirectX Diagnostic Tool the usb sound is accelerated and drivers are usbaudio.sys. But if so, the usb sound must steal power from the CPU?! Which means that usb sound is a bad solution for gamers.My present system is high end (AMD FX-57 CPU, Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe MB, 2 Gb Corsair RAM, XFX GForce 7950 GX2 graphics card, 3 250 Gb SATA2 harddisks) so that shouldn't be an issue. I have installed all the latest official drivers for MB and also the latest bios for my MB. I have tried to turn the usb sound acceleration down in steps but the problem remains.I have read a lot of bad stuff about the Realtek integrated sound circuits but that could not be the explanation for my sound problem if the Realtek circuits are not used for the usb sound (on my former computer which was less powerful I had no problems at all with the usb sound).I wonder if it would help if I bought an usb sound card? Or should I buy a powerful sound card and buy a non usb headset to attach to that card?best regardsKrister R