Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro

Is this the ultimate card for awsome sound quality, keeping the pressure off the cpu, and home recording for the price?

Asus p4c800 Deluxe,1 Gig Mushkin PC3200 400 Mhz(2-2-2 cas), Pentium 4 3.0 512k 800fsb HT, Thermaltake Xaser III, Thermaltake Spark 4, WD 80 Gig 7200, Samsung 52x24x52x16, GeForce 4 MX440 (PCI).

Id say I do alot more gaming than recording, but when I record its usually for a big thing, so im willing to sacrifice a little recording proficincey for games etc. Does having a good sound card increase the computers performance? Like handle more of the actual sound processing itself instead of bogging your resources down? I dont know very much about how sound and sound cards work (What the actual cpu handles with / without a card, Im assuming its like getting a new video card where the video card is made to basically handle the graphics?)

Asus p4c800 Deluxe,1 Gig Mushkin PC3200 400 Mhz(2-2-2 cas), Pentium 4 3.0 512k 800fsb HT, Thermaltake Xaser III, Thermaltake Spark 4, WD 80 Gig 7200, Samsung 52x24x52x16, GeForce 4 MX440 (PCI).