Wow, dual core machines are nice. My budget will not allow it, so I am looking into solid Pentium 4's or Athlon 64's which fit my wallet a little better. I have been watching machines go at auction which are dual cpu capable with only one supplied, a few I looked at could even be upgraded to the dual core. My problem is the number of frames needed for an animation. The last 30 second animation took 4 weeks total on a single cpu machine. I saw that article also when searching for information. That is a real nice setup to say the least. (drool)