Cheers said: "I have a feeling that there would be very little hardware compatibility with that machine." You're may be right Cheers, though his system is within Microsoft's Win2K specs (barely) except for the free drive space. I suspect that with the added memory and HD it would run though not fast but who knows. I agree that a new system would be the best bet and all put together is ideal for many people. Using components has advantages in terms of being able to select what you want and being confident about tearing into it if you like or have need to. As for the technical expertise, of course, if you have no idea about IDE channes, etc. don't do it. With a tech savvy friend, a good book, building up a system isn't impossibly hard if one has the inclination. I'd definitely recommend that a novice start out with one of the 'bare bones' kits. Partition Magic (or my preference Partition Commander) will work but there's not a lot of free space to work with. Also assuming they're around $40, double that and you have a new drive. As Brycetech says, I don't think the CPU speed is all that critical if you can live with the performance. Except for breathing room. Poser seems to be pretty tolerant of speed, witness the lack benefit the latest greatest video card will get your rendering, even in P5.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken