@ DustRider:

Regarding single vs dual CPU's. I happen to have both, so I can give you some hands-on bechmarks:

1st System: single i7 920 (quad core, 8 threads) overclocked to 3.6 GHz, 12 GB DDR3 RAM, NVidia GTX 285

2nd System: Dual Xeon @ 2.6 GHz (8 cores, 16 threads), non-overclocked, 24 GB DDR3 RAM and NVidia GTX 295.

In all the test that I have done with Carrara renders and the Torque Game Engine, the single overclocked i7 CPU system has always been consistently 25% to 30% faster than the dual Xeon CPU system.

So to get fast CPU based rendering, you don't need a dual Xeon system, an overclocked single CPU is actually faster.

Besides, you don't buy a cheap $1,500 system to fit it with a $1,000 graphics card. You buy an expensive system, and you put in it a $1,000 grahics board.

The point ManStan is making is correct then: The high cost of the GPU is an added cost to the price of an already expensive system.