[ahecht]

Originally Posted by Skiwreck

ok, got it, quadro/fireGL videocard is overkill...

so basically its mostly processor power. weird. I am used to apps where its all about the video card. THis comp is being designed primarily for the 3ds Max, with possible CAD also. Would it be better to go AMD Athlon 64? I know that these are best for gaming and other 3d apps, but better for animation also? And if we could manage it, we could do maybe up to 4gb RAM and a sweet video card, possibly an nvidia Geforce 6800GT.

Possible system specs, not including drives, etc.

Pentium4 3.0+
4GB RAM (PC3200)
Nvidia 6800GT?

or

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ or better
4GB RAM (PC3200)
Nvidia 6800GT?

or whatever video card would work well. We do want this system to last quite a while.

If you get a P4 board with PCI-E, I'd go with the 6600GT.