I wouldnt dream of buying an oem computer these days.
Newegg.com is your best friend.

A budget build I did recently that handles poser pro with no problems.

apevia x-plorer case and 420w power supply $79
intel celeron e1400 dual core @ 2.0 ghz 800 fsb $49
foxconn g31mxp-k motherboard $44
2 gig dual channel kingston hyper x memory @ 5 5 5 15 800 mhz $32
galaxy geforce 8400 gs 256mb turbo cache to 512mb $35
liteon cd/dvd $30
western digital 80 gig sata hd $35
total is $304

this motherboard does allow some overclocking features.
it will bring the e1400 from 2000mhz to 2650mhz stable.
the memory I have overclocked as well with 5 5 5 18 timings @ 1066

for the adventerous you can do a pin mod on the cpu as I've done.
same setup as above with the cpu running at 3400mhz and a fsb of 1360

The greatest thing about going this route is that it is upgradeable without the headache of
sticking with what will work for hp, dell, gateway, etc.

P7 works better for me than P6 did but I have only used it on a new machine so it isn't a fair comparison. One thing I used to do is export out a figure, after it was posed, and bring it back as a static obj, I could add a few more figures in there most times.

And the thing is that a lot of Mac users would never think of using a PC. So I know that might not be an option.

Quote - ...And the thing is that a lot of Mac users would never think of using a PC. So I know that might not be an option.

I was thinking that too. Some Mac users are hard core Mac fans ;o).

Laurie

You guys say that like it hadn't occurred to me.

That was my point. Didn't you see the first sentence?

" ... your devotion to Apple seems irrational ..."

A preference for Macs doesn't have to be irrational. It may just be a different rationale from yours ;)

If you want the fastest CPU for your money, right now a home-built PC wins hands down. (Back when the G5 came out, it wasn't that easy - the G5 was definitely a great machine in its time, even though optimizing code for it was a challenge.)

However, people may pick a Mac for other reasons - maybe they like the operating system better, the attention hardware details (I'm sure the magnetic power plug has saved my laptop's life more than once) or just the looks. Practically everyone who buys a Mac knows that Windows PCs are cheaper, yet still they pick a Mac. They have their reasons.

We don't just look at horse powers per $ when we buy cars either.

So, cut the Mac users some slack - or would you like it when they start writing "get a Mac" in every thread about a Windows specific problem?

erm Stewer...they do already.

I know. And I believe that supports my point. "Buy a completely different one" is rarely the correct answer when someone asks for help with their computer.

But we're talking about tebop here, not a bunch of other threads.

I understand all about individual decision making. I own a $100,000 car - I'm sure there are plenty on this thread who think that is stupid.

Tebop has indicated he has very little money to spend, and wants to do animation with dozens of figures.

He needs horsepower, period. And he's on a very limited budget. There is no room in that for "I like the Mac interface" - sorry there just isn't.

What is your suggestion, exactly? Should he buy a Mac Pro something or other for $3500?

I meant to add, you have never seen me take part in a Mac-PC discussion before.

I'm not participating in that discussion. I'm talking to tebop, who cannot afford to be a Mac snob and dismiss the PC. He wants to render big and fast, and he cannot pay for the Apple that does the job. Anything else is just irrational.

Rationality is not subjective - the motives, desires, requirements, goals, constraints, etc of an individual decision are different for each user, and I do not dispute their right to have these different needs.

My use of irrational is in that specific context - when the individual IGNORES his own reality, then he is irrational. I never suggested he had to pay attention to MY reality, as you implied.

Hi All
( Violating my own promise regarding entering the OP's  threads)

>>Diplomacy filter deactivated<<
This redundant  Mac vs PC price debate nonsense completely IGNORES the very obvious
nature of the OP 's problem.
POOR WORKFLOW HABITS!!!.
(check his posting history)

I know,I know technically he did ask a hardware question.but as the only experienced animator in this thread (OP included),
I feel compelled to ask:
why is he  loading several hi res DAZ millenium poser figures at a time if he is trying to animate them??.

Answer: he does not know any better and typically ignores any advice that requires LEARNING how to use the features of the programs he already owns.

For example the OP Might be told to use
Low res proxy stand-ins for animation like poser4 'Dork/possette" or similar  and save the motions as animated PZ3 files to his library and apply this motion to this Fully dressed Generation3/4 Daz  figures before rendering.
But this workflow would require prudent planning
and possibly require adjusting the applied animated poses using the poser graph editor.
....not gonna happen here.

The OP has stated In many threads that he has Apple Final cut pro, which support Alpha Channels.
Poser will render single figures with alpha channels that can be composited in FCP to make "crowds".
But this workflow would require prudent planning
and possibly require learning how to use Final Cut pro for post video production as it was intended.
....not gonna happen here.

Except for rare exceptions like WETA Digital and its proprietary "massive" software, NO ONE( ILM, Pixar etc)
packs a scene with multiple hi res figure rigs to animate them all at once and even WETA uses very Low Res
Figures for it Crowd Simulations and alot of film grain
and motion blur in post production

Stewart& others may remember back when I was posting poser animations in 2001/2002 with platoons of marching soldiers rendered on a 266MHZ
first generation MAC G3 with 256 MEGS of RAM.!!
this was accomplished by using every trick and cheat
I could find and when some one was nice enough to teach me a trick to get around My Severe hardware
limitations ( at that time)
I actually made the effort to implement them.

the issue here is not a hardware problem it is a
"Hard Head" problem.

>>Diplomacy filter reactivated<<

Cheers

Heheh, wolfy, you speak some wisdom here. Accomplishing anything with 266 Mhz - wow.

heh. try a 5 minute long animation for the start of a star trek convention, modeling done on a 486Dx2 66mhz with 8mb of ram and a copy of trueSpace 2, then exported (terribly via 3DS) to 3DStudio R4 for animation and rendering (done on a Pentium 133 with 8mb Ram).

playback required 2 computers, 1 for the sound and 1 for the 'video' (was a FLC file) since one machine alone could'nt play the video and sound together without going badly outta sync.

all terribly primative by the standards of what we're doing now.... but it was liked and I wish I still had a copy :(
(hard disk failure back in '99 killed it)

Aside from workflow problens (wolf - you couldn't be more right!), don't forget tebop is using Poser 6. Which means no multithreading, a 2 GB limit - it's a pure 32 bit app, not a large address aware app - and of course, the Mac does not support that /3G switch, that's a Windows option.

A 4 year old G5 is slow indeed. But Poser 6 is about the same age. I wouldn't expect major speedups from a modern multicore machine, be it a Mac or a PC.

As for "slow machines" and what you can do with them, look up  the user "flak" in the galleries. Those Bryce scenes were made on a Pentium III with 320 MB of RAM! Patience and a good workflow is what made those extraordinary scenes.

 "The OP has stated In many threads that he has Apple Final cut pro, which support Alpha Channels.
Poser will render single figures with alpha channels that can be composited in FCP to make "crowds".
But this workflow would require prudent planning"

Uhhhh. If you actually read some of my threads , this is one of my techniques i use now.
But i use it for background crowds, i may animate them with automatic walks so it's simple. 

But for main characters, if i have 4 interacting in my scene, then i need these all to be in my scene.

But anyways, thanks everybody. 
I'm ok now

ps. It's not finalcut Pro. it's final cut express( 99 dolalrs)

I know zero about animation but from the questions you're asking, it sounds like you're tackling a highly ambitious project with perhaps too little experience - no offense and perhaps I'm wrong. I know its tempting when you have a grand vision to try to do it all, but maybe starting out with a smaller story, maybe a backstory for one character or whatever might be more practical, with a better chance of a satisfying result. That pretty much applies to anything in life :-)

 lmckenzie, 

well yes it's a big story but I'm improving on my last movie. My last movie, had no use of layering, no rendered backgrounds, no background characters.. nothing! 

All my ideas are things i can use to improve what i've done already