Hello, I've been reading some forums regarding onboard vs. add-in sound card because I've found out that whenever I disable the built-in SC and play DiRT Colin Mcrae, my FPS becomes smooth and increased slightly. But when I enable it the game seems to be stuttering or lagging. So the sound seems to be the problem. I need some advice whether should I buy a branded sound card or stick with the built-in, does it help if I change the sound card to remove the lag problem of the game? And DiRT recommends Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card says in the box. Please Help?

My Specs:
OS: WinXP SP2
CPU: AMD 3800x2
MOBO: M2A-VM
RAM: 2GB DC
GPU: 8800GT OC
Sound: Built-in Realtek

Yeah changing from an onboard sound card will definately increase the FPS of the games you are playing.

This are the 2 affordable soundcards for Games from creative.

# X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro Series
# X-Fi XtremeGamer

unfortunately I don't own them, but have played with PCs using them , definately a difference in FPS and also sound quality.

Finally, somebody helped me. I'll look into your suggestions, but one question, do I need high-end soundcard or no? Because I only use headphones.

Anadtech has one of the few reliable sites I have seen address this issue. Their test showed that playing Unreal Tournament with 3D sound and EAX went from 45 to 50.3 fps bu going from on board sound to a sound card:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2338&p=10

However you will also note, that the sound card puts a bigger load on the system than the on board solution when not being played dropping performance by 0.4 fps.

They also noted that this effect was only this pronounced at lower resolutions. AT higher resolutions, it showed less impact.

In addition to what JackNaylorPE has written, the Xi-Fi will produce more 'voices' during the game. Not onlt will you get the main sound effects, but the Xi-Fi will produce a lot of extra sounds that will add to the realism of the game. If you run 3DMark03 on your present system it will tell you how many voices your onboard soundcard can produce. Try agin when you fit the Xi-Fi and you will see (& hear) the difference. I use headphones with a Xi-Fi and the surround sound effects are very good, you can tell when a sound is meant to be behind you.

Mike.