The hardware architecture and instruction set of the digital signal processor leads to its high speed and precision in processing data. Aiming at the virtual instrument's deficiency in speed and precision resulting from the limit of the computers' development, the author brings forward a method to promote the performance of the virtual instruments using the DSP technology. Implementing the complex algorithms in DSP and using the principal and subordinate DSP structure or DMA technology in the data acquisition card of the virtual instrument can promote the virtual instrument's real-time characteristic greatly. Several key technologies are introduced in realizing the data acquisition and processing card. The experiment shows that the digital signal processors have higher speed and precision than the computers when implementing complex algorithms, and that using the DSP to implement the algorithms is an effective method to promote the virtual instrument's performance.