:) Maybe. The 4600 is a nice board, but the 5900 is definitely faster in the OpenGL end. Noticed this in both Vue Pro and Cinema4D. If you're going to upgrade your entire system (or build a new one), I'd suggest getting a Windows system and forego the Macs. Don't get me wrong, I like Mac Gx series and MacOS X, but cost-wise, you can get more from Windows for less cost. Get a motherboard with the fastest bus (FSB) possible. This really makes a difference in overall system performance. I'm running a 533MHz, but 800MHz or 1GHz is optimal. Get DDR memory to match, 1GB or more. I use 2GB which suffices well unless I'm doing Photoshop with large textures, Poser, and Cinema or Vue simultaneously. AMD Athlon XP+ and the new Opteron are good cpus. Although I mainly use Intel, I had no qualms about the AMDs that I've owned. Whichever way you go, try to go dual processor (hint,hint) and get something with HyperThreading. This will benefit most 3D applications (except Poser), really reduces "rendering stress" (on you that is!), and the OS and other applications in general. ;) Video cards are tough. ATI Radeon 9800 or GeForceFX 5900. I've heard great things about the former, but since I require 3D Stereoscopic support, NVidia is the way for me. If you can afford a Quadro Pro or other high-end graphics card, that will always be beneficial. Be certain to get a good power supply, 400W or better. My dual Xeons require 500+, so I'm using 550W PS. Hard drives are easy. Get the biggest you can afford at 7200 RPM with 8MB cache. If you're lucky enough to be able to afford it (and have that option on the mobo), get 10000RPM Serial ATA drives. They are supposedly the fastest option out there. Have not had a chance to check this myself.

C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes it harder, but when you do, you blow your whole leg off.

 -- Bjarne Stroustrup

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