Oh, as for using graphics cards for rendering, go buy Pandromeda MojoWorld. That program renders in openGL and the more card ram the better. I had a tough time on the version 1x team because my ATI rage pro chipset didn't cut it. The radeon didn't either, but that might have been a defective card. Finally got a gforce 2mx400 that kinda worked and this new ati 8500 handled the version 2x team stuff just fine after upgrading the drivers. Yeah, video card memory and openGL is not just for games. Its for 3d stuff too if the program is written to take advantage of it.