Ok....I'm serious about upgrading now. This old boy is getting slower and slower!! The new computer will only be used to run: Poser 5, Vue 4/5, DAZ Studio, Shade, Bryce 5 Psp 9 and Frontpage. Every computer I've looked at (the P4's) come with Hyperthreading technology. I know that Poser doesn't use it and will only see one of those 2 "virtual" processors. Does anyone know about Vue, Bryce, DAZ Studio and the like? If I go with a P4, will getting the largest processor possible compensate for the hyperthreading nonsense? AMD may be a better option. However, at CL's site they say this: "Recently we've seen problems cropping up that stem from Windows XP Service Pack 2's implementation of data execution prevention (a security feature designed to help prevent some kinds of Trojans and viruses from executing)- on 64-bit AMD-based machines in particular, installing both our Service Release 4.1 updater and Windows XP SP2 prevents Poser from launching. We're working towards a fix for this, but for the moment we urge high-end AMD-based Poser users to hold off on installing SP2 until we can get a new service release out. If you have installed SP2 and require its features, you can run Poser in safe mode; this is not a convenient solution but it should allow Poser to run." Not a convenient solution is right!! I would guess that a new computer is going to have Windows XP SP2 automatically installed. Microsoft has been promoting the hell out of it because of the security features I guess. So...what is one to do here! I need an affordable system, which will limit how much customizing I can do. I'll probably purchase a seperate nVidia card with at least 128 mb of ram, as "stock" systems often come with a stupid chipset on the motherboard that uses system ram and isn't compatible with anything. I would guess the FSB and L2 Cache specifications are important as well. I currently use 1G of ram and will probably get at least 2 on a new machine. Is dual channel ram the best way to go? Any help here is appreciated. I've put this off long enough.