one or two things more... I have no idea how to evaluate the motherboard. I don't need fancy sound, just an ethernet port and some USB ports. I DO need it to be spectacular with the RAM and CPU, however. And reliable. Also, do I need controllers for the two Raptors? I read somewhere that to be optimal they should be on separate controllers. Last.....I am still trying to find out if this is a crazy idea: what about a RAM disk? Can't I put the Poser.exe and the swap file, and maybe even my stripped-out Runtime folder on a RAM Disk? I'd still write the output TIFF files to regular HD, so I'd only lose one frame if the RAM disk goes down. So, what's wrong with this idea? ynsaen, your sentences about this above...I did not completely grok them. I am tired now, i'll read them again tomorrow. Thank you all again for your generous help. It's pretty stressful making a purchase of this size, but I am going to do it. My partner in crime on the movie I want to make viewed a 24-second animation I just finished today, and gave me the green light on the funds. I'll be able to post a link to that animation later this week. ::::: Opera ::::