Capricorn wrote: thanks squonk... asio4all doesnt seem to have much of an effect..
unless i'm not using it properly...
any advice on where i should start with it?

You need to change the Ouput Device to ASIO4ALL (File-->Audio and Midi Settings).

If you are using Guitar Rig in a host you need to make sure that the host is using AISO4ALL as its primary driver.