Not really. The nforce audio is a hardware-based controller (if you have the good Soundstorm version), so there shouldn't be any specifically high CPU usage from it. However that all depends on drivers and good design. The Live! and the Audigy are both hardware controllers, but the Live! most likely has higher CPU usage, by a small margin. The nforce may have more or less CPU usage than any particular other chip, but it isn't in general going to be higher CPU usage than other hardware controllers.
The non-Soundstorm version of the southbridge though is just AC'97 audio, so it'll be somewhat higher CPU usage.
Most boards will use a Realtek external codec chip even if they use Soundstorm from the nforce2. The external codec chip is ONLY used to physically convert the digital audio signal to an analog signal to be sent to the speakers. The nforce2 APU is actually doing the audio processing. Some boards that don't have Soundstorm may use the AC'97 audio of the nforce2, in which case they'd still just use the external codec for the DAC, or they may use a fully external AC'97 or hardware-based sound controller. Realtek makes both external codecs and full controllers. The ALC650 is just a codec, not a controller. CMedia also makes both type of chip.
This is similar to the network controller for most boards. The built-in network controller in the southbridge does the processing, but an external PHY is needed for the physical interface. Even with the 3Com controller that's built into the better nforce2, it needs an external PHY because the controller isn't a separate device. Some boards though, mostly the ones that want Gigabit Ethernet now, use a full external controller chip and don't use the built-in controller. In those cases, the PHY is usually part of the controller chip.
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