I've had several problems recently - I hope someone can help: 1. I have had problems with my sound and Speedtouch broadband modem. When I was ripping a CD to my PC on ITunes the sound skipped and slowed down, and the modem seemed to crash - it wouldn't access the internet, even though the USB/ADSL lights were often green on the modem and it showed as being connected. I think this was caused when I tried to listen to a different song on the CD I was downloading music from. Do you think this could have been the reason the sound and modem 'crashed'? This hasn't happened in any other circumstance than that I've just described. 2. I have an Asus P5V800 mobo and no separate soundcard. The drivers that came with this had SoundMax as the audio driver. I have had problems with general sound quality on video/audio playback, interference and skipping etc. I uninstalled Soundmax (so I am currently using the basic Windows Audio driver) and the bad sound went away. I have downloaded the latest SoundMax drivers but it didn't help. Has anyone else had a similar problem? Are there any Soundmax drivers I can use instead? Or should I get a soundcard? 3. I have an EZ Cool 450W PSU. I experience quite a lot of background whiny interference on my USB-powered speakers noticeable when I'm not playing music etc. This interference is worse with SoundMax drivers installed. Is this normal interference? Is there anything I can do that would lessen it? Many thanks in advance to anyone that can help! Pete (Pejoterdy)

Buying a soundcard should solve one problem. The noise problem is another story. I would try to find a way to ground the PS and/or the entire system a little better before I buy another PS.

Hi, thanks for your help. Can you advise any good (and reasonably priced) soundcards to buy? When you say earth the PSU, how do I go about it? I haven't checked, but I presume the power cable is earthed. Pete