I used some obj converts from xfrog in C. Worked fine. The materials file and sometimes obj can be in a different version that it can't read things correctly.

r u using nodes or on a single machine?

I would check how this object is put together. Is that just the leaf shader? Got a lot of shading domains.

Good to know. All ram should be same specs, works best, especially if doing any kinda dual channel. However, If you tried different configs of the ram and test w/ memT  that can tell you better what is going on. Depending on setup options you don't always have control in bios over timing/voltage tweaks so you get stuck w/ defaults. Certain ram just doesn't do well w/ certain mb's. Better quality ram in gen is more compatible. Dual channel kits can actually be headache savers.

Amd doesn't currently have a hyperthreading equivalent  so some loss there. But that is always weighed against cost and performance. Ram on video doesn't help unless you are using cuda or opencl, so 512mb would be good, this would make previews a bit better. Get at least opengl 2.0 compliant. Get at least 4gb of ram, more if you want.

 Many experienced users in versions prior to C7. Having C7 is irrelevant to identifying bugs. I would not expect a real cloth solution, however, the Bullet physics engine I do believe is the way to go and will allow some functioning in this direction. Yet to see a good cloth sim w/ Bullet, but probably on par w/ Poser at least. Cloth is less important than a decent physics foundation.

Drive issues are always coming up. Things change w/ any manufacturer and individual experience varies greatly. I look at the warranties, that helps, also reviews of course.. I have still had good luck w/ seagate, samsung and fujitsu. I am more wary of wd and hitachi. I find many hitachi drives that don't make it. Going by manufacturer is difficult. Only so many factories and everything is outsourced to india nowadays and I believe that will only get worse. Best to simply get a decent drive w/ good warranty and just put it in a decent enclosure if you need an external unit.

Supposedly along w/ 64bit, many processes are now multithreaded that were not and they have changed the way the render nodes process so you can render an image per pc and fixed some inefficiencies there. I am not really sure what the numbers are for D|S vs Carrara or any other package. Would be interesting to see. I wouldn't assume anything. However, those numbers are going to be directly reflected in how the sw is marketed, as well.

The wiki can be difficult to locate things, but this user guide is helpful, even to version 6 or earlier.
http://documentation.daz3d.com/carrara/Carrara7_User_Guide.pdf

I doubt there will be an upgrade path except initially where there is a window to go to 7 then 8. They pretty much only do the one version upgrade. They can have other promos. You can bet they will try to get you to get on the PC club.

You use network rendering in the batch queue. So yes you can still work. The licensing on grid was expanded, but I believe it is per thread. Whereas just C can be run on a machine w/ many threads, i.e. 8 cores. That's before using rendering nodes. Cpro comes w/ extra rendering node licenses. So you might not need grid. There are some bugs w/ it I believe, not sure whether they were fixed. It is important to know the licenses are per thread. It was updated I think so maybe it is fixed. They do have a 30 day guarantee. If you have Pro you can put anything in batch queue and still continue working w/ no network rendering.

Yeh Blender has a great uvmapper. I think graybeard has a good video on this. http://www.blender.org/education-help/video-tutorials/modelmateriallight/

There is a crease edge command which can help keep edges sharp when smoothing. You might also want to play with magnets. Only a very sophisticated simulation could account for all the variables you are describing for both materials and physics. If you put a label like a decal on a bag, shouldn't get messed up too bad. Actual uv mapping is more accurate for most things tho compared to trying to use a projection. However, if you post a pic I think you can get more specific help to what specific issues you maybe having.

It was mentioned 64-bit was being worked on for future. So it won't be til C8 at least. That may be out around Christmas.

Yeah, I knew the builds were available. I also know it will be a bit crippled for awhile even after it comes out officially, but I definitely like the new UI changes. Another 4 wks...too bad.

Yeh, between 10mb to 100mb. I have gotten better mem at times w/ it off so it's good to experiment.Over 100mbs tends to start causing mem leaks or out of mem issues.