Believe it or not, I actually got a nice boost from adding a soundcard. When using Intel HD audio, I think my CPU was probably working at 100% during gaming. There were short freezes in HL2 where the same sound repeated several times for a second or two. This happened EVERY single time I...
Why even bother trying to do that..it's a benefit that it plugs into the fan header. You can adjust the speed in Riva Tuner to whatever you want but you don't need 100% in 2D.