Vista - Sound issues (Vista)

I am getting distortion, and time delays on audio playback. I have
downloaded the (Vista compatilbe driver) from my mainboards web site twice
and I still have this problem. The whole purpose of me building this
computer is for home studio recording, I never had this problem until I put
Vista on my computer. I've deleted the driver and installed it twice, I have
Sound Blaster Audigy built into my mainboard (MSI, K8N diamond plus). I have
also went to Creative's web site and there Vista compatilbe Driver will not
even load on my computer, an error pops up saying somthing like "cannot find
the Device". My audio seems fine for a couple of minutes of playback but
soon after the destortion kicks in. If I close the program (Itunes, WINAMP,
or media player) and open it back up the audio is fine for a short time then
repeats the problem. Should I go back to XP (to which I never had this
problem and forget Vista), or are there any options to this problem. Vista
certainly has not been good to me at all.
My computer specs are: AMD opteron 180 on a K8N diamond plus mainboard, 2
gigs ram, and a Basiq 500 watt power supply.
Thanks Chris