Sound Card
 

I use onboard sound, and it works great. I have seen other posts saying that using a sound card will up your frame rate in game. I guess this is because you take some of the load off of your processor?

I have a couple of SB Live cards lying around that I could try. My onboard is a Crystal C-Media AC97.

Would adding the SB Live card actually improve my FPS?

SB Live is a pretty old card and if I remember right it still off loads a lot of processing to the CPU. So, while the game will sound better, I don't think you will see much improvement in frame rates.

If you're on a budget, try to find an Audigy 2 or better. That will show a much improved frame rate as well as fine sound :)

Cheers,