Quote - > Quote - Wait until you start bogging down the application with displacement maps, raytracing, transparencies and true reflections.  You will be glad you have power to space.  Those are the features that will make or break a render.

Oh I've already delved into that a little. Put a character in a mirrored room, turned raytrace bounces up to like 20, and went to bed whilst it rendered. So I couldn't tell ya how long it took lol

I built my pc initially for gaming:
AMD Phenom 9600 2.5Ghz x 4
2 gigs XMS DDR2 @ 1066 Mhz
and dual 512 MB Nvidia 9800 GT's in SLI

I know it's not a workstation, but it seems to do okay.

Um... 20 bounces are WAY Overkill for reflections. You really shouldn't need more that 6 at most 3 at a minimum. Unless you're wanting an endless reflection room of mirrors that is, then, 20 might be a good call, but I still think that would be overkill. I'm sure someone more technically inclined than myself could tell you why. Like Billbaggins.