In this case it's actually a software issue.
The audigy is heavily CPU based, much like a Winmodem. However it doesn't overly load the system itself, which is ironic.
The problem seems to be one of often spending too much time in IRQ's handling audio output.
Upgrading the software drivers goes a LONG way to diminish the problems, but I've found that doing this in conjunction with card swapping tends to resolve the problems.
E.G. try to avoid having two cards that are accessed at exactly the same time, sharing an IRQ or DMA.
Thus Audigy and Video on the same IRQ is a very -BAAAA- idea.
Creative insists that you MUST turn on DMA for all drives and CD-ROM's if you are using an Audigy.
Easier said than done, as this creates problems if you place a bad cd in the system. The DMA xfer for the disk read is not able to complete, so the CPU gets hung up waiting for the DMA xfer from the CD rom. If you don't eject the bad disk withing a certain amount of time, your system get's "trashed" (no not the hard drive, merely the OS) and you'll need to reboot to restore normal operation.
Ideally the Audigy on IRQ-7 works great if you are IRQ short.
Yes you can force this by telling Windows not to use an IRQ for the LPT port. Then the audigy laps up the address. Finally you can turn LPT's use of IRQ-7 back on with the check mark about sharing it, and both will co-exist.
