I have the option for a gigabit setup, but currently use 10100 through a Netgear router and Linksys 5 port switch. The 4000x2 textures -can- be too big; they were created with Poser and closeups in mind. If you aren't doing extreme closeups, then reducing the resolution is fine. The gigabit setup -should- speed things up, as you are talking about getting resources from the render controller to a disk cache on another machine; that is pretty much strictly and OS issue, and the RenderCow has very little to do with it (aside from making the request for the file, if it even does that). How much of an improvement is dependant on a lot of things. One friend shot his geek wad on a gigabit setup in his house, and missed the part about needing CAT 6 cable. Was not a happy puppy when his hardware throttled down to keep the signals clean....