As of right now, Bryce (3D or 4) will not take advantage of a graphics accelerator. More Video RAM will speed up the refresh, but the biggest help across the board is system RAM followed by CPU speed. As for the cost estimate, I've seen that system (okay, it was an Athlon 750MHZ, but hey, what's 250 MHz between friends? ) with 256 MB of ram, a Matrox GeForce 400 w/ 32MB RAM, 2 30 Gb 10k RPM Hd's, a 17" Sony monitor (.26 dp), etc. etc. for $2800. The guy added another monitor for another $180. Okay, so he didn't splurge on the monitors. The biggest cost (at the time) was the RAM. RAM prices have dropped some since then. The next big cost was the processor. Still is. The 1GHz processor is still running in the $600 - $700 price range per processor in lots of 1k. Retail is still near $800. I expect that to drop in August when they announce the 1.33 GHz PIV. Now, what does all of this nifty (drool-worthy) hardware have to do with Bryce? I WANT IT SO THAT I CAN RENDER FASTER!!!! :) Now, me and my AMD K6-2 (266) are going back to watch Bryce render a 20 MB scene in 1 hr ... :P Too much transparency. Transparency bad ... opaque, nonreflective simple color good ... :) Once it's finished, I'll post it here somewhere ... :) John