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I might consider a farm of cheaper units, as well. Some of the really high end I7 980X boxes run over $3000. I imagine that having a few 930s or even 860s with network rendering would be faster at the same price. I mean, 12 cores versus 4, you know.

Actually, the I7 980X has 6 cores.  3.33 Ghz clock speed.  32 MB cache.

Lotus 123 ~ S-Render ~ OS/2 WARP ~ IBM 8088 / 4.77 Mhz ~ Hercules Ultima graphics, Hitachi 10 MB HDD, 64K RAM, 12 in diagonal CRT Monitor (16 colors / 60 Hz refresh rate), 240 Watt PS, Dual 1.44 MB Floppies, 2 button mouse input device.  Beige horizontal case.  I don't display my unit.