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Asio doesn't exactly lighten CPU load, but they work together to produce the sound.
the CPU creates the sound it self (and btw. Azza, I'm correcting you, CPU is not the same as memory... ), it then chops the sound into little bits and sends them to the soundcard, the size of each piece is measured in samples, and it's kept in a buffer, it's a temporary place that holds data while it is transferred. The Asio driver is the software part that oversees the transfer from the CPU to the soundcard.
Think of it like a transit system: If you set the buffer low, many small trains come and the wait is short, but it's very costly to keep up and running. If you make the buffer bigger, making bigger traincarts and stuff more people in each train (but more time between trains), the people have to wait longer for each train, but running costs are much lower and it's generally safer (less trains = less chance of an accident).
This is just the same as with latency. If you have a bigger buffer you don't need as much CPU, if you have many smaller trains you need a lot of CPU, but the latency isn't as much. If you set the buffer too low that means the traincarts are too small and you can't fit all the people in them, that means people get left behind and the sound starts to pop and click.
back to the original question: Yes, a new soundcard will, "in theory" lighten you CPU load, but mostly because the asio drivers are more effective (think of it as if the trains were moving at higher speeds between stations), but you're not going to see a dramatic increment if you use lots of softsynths, since the sound is synthesized by the CPU and the soundcard has nothing to do with that process...
... Oh, and in order to connect a 1/8" mini-jack (standard computer connector) you just need an RCA->Mini jack converter (more precicely 2x RCA to stereo mini jack). A mixer er also a very good idea, you can get cheap Behringer mixers for like 40$ and they have every possible connector you'd need.
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