Benefits of USB gamepads/joysticks?

[Tikerz]

Are there any benefits of using a USB joystick/gamepad over the standard port ones? The new Thrustmaster Fusion gamepad said it'll give me faster frame rates in games...is that true? Thanks in advance!

[jokostel]

all you do is save a serial port

[Keeper1]

I was reading that some USB devices are quite CPU intensive while others are not so bad. Once set of USB speakers had a CPU utilization rating of over 30%! Not good. Can't speak for the TM stick, but you might check on the CPU utilization specs if they're available.