Tomorrow, I'm ordering a new computer!

Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz 512k 800MHz FSB | socket 478 w/ Hyper Threading Technology
2048 MB RAM
Two Western Digital 200 GB 7200 RPM hard drives
Video card: ATI All-In-Wonder RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DDR 8X AGP
Sony 16x DVD-ROM
SONY DVD+R/RW Recorder
7-in-1 Flash Media Bay Reader/Writer
17" NEC MultiSync LCD Monitor
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 eX

...

???

That was a stunned silence.

Ah. Hopefully, I'll be in stunned silence at its rendering speed when I network it to my current Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz with 512 MB RAM.

...

Oly thing I'd have done different is the Monitor. A 19" CRT is bigger, has higher res and costs less. And if you're going to spend big money anyway a Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB. But it sounds like a killer PC anyway. Promise me you'll take one of those scenes that used to take a month to render to benchmark it :P

You could try the Iiyama Pro 454. It has a max res of 1920 x 1440 and an AG of .24 It also has the M2 tube which gives you very high brightness and contrast. And it's cheaper then most hight quality 17" TFT's

I don't have room for a 19" CRT. As far as video cards, I can get the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB DDR DVI/TV 8X AGP (Powered by ATI) for $70 more. Is that what you mean?

yes. If you have scenes that are heavy on memory (like complex bryce scenes in openGL view or games with complex graphics, large levels and lots of textures) the extra memory on the vidcard can boost the performance a lot. Depends a bit on the use of your system if it's worth the extra $70.

I'm not much of a game person (only Age of Empires 2 occasionally) but I do hope to do complex Bryce and Cinema 4D scenes (I'm also ordering the C4D 8 studio bundle).

(envy) :^) Sounds pretty sweet, Jason.

arrrgg you have my dream machine. render on.

My dream machine too. I tried to get the best options I could. Some may wonder about having two huge hard drives, but I need a dedicated drive for video editing.

Aye, it does sound awesome! Even though I'm an AMD guy, this one should do the trick for ya. Only thing is, if the onyl game you play is AOE 2, you have NO need for a graphics card of this type. Look to a cheaper ATI All-in-wonder 8500 DV, save some bucks, you'll never use the newer Radeon's features if you don't play any 3D games. AOE is not a 3D game... Plus, if you're using Cinema 4D, the All-in-Wonder Radeon offers many more features, an AWESOME remote, and of course multiple video/audio ins and outs, might help you actually make use of Cinema 4D's power. Also, the 8500 DV is onyl about $170, much cheaper.

jason, if you use 2 identical HD's you could make a stipe RAID. It increases the read and write speed with approximately 75%, because it used the 2 HD's as one, writing on both at once. I have my HD's set up that way too. Only con is that if one disk breaks down the data on the other one is lost too. Shadowdragonlord has a point about the cool remote and the fact that not playing 3D-games means you'll probably not be using those 256 megs very often. If you like a responsive environment with high-quality speedy previews of complex scenes in OpenGL then a superfast vid-card is handy. If your main goal is the final render then it's not always worth the extra money.