Quote - thanx svdl for that info....i'm actually an AMD kind of guy.  but if there is an intel cpu that is faster than a the fastest amd cpu  i'd be all for it. right now i'm up in the air if i am to invest in a machine with some serious performance.  i'm just investigating in case i do do it.

I just built a new PC around the Intel D975XBX2 motherboard and the Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme processor with 4GB of Corsair XMS2 DDR800 memory. This thing is scary fast! Vue correctly recognizes 4 CPU's and my render times are noticeably faster. What I should have done was timed a few renders with my old AMD X2 4600+ before I replaced the motherboard but I forgot. (sorry)

If you want the fastest PC you can get, IMHO, QuadCore is the way to go. Your video card is only uses for OpenGL preview. All rendering is done in software which means your CPU is doing all the work. So I recommend the fastest CPU you can afford.

~jr