Ok I've had a search of the forums and come up with very little.

My old PC is kaput!

I've read some posts that say Windows 7 64bit 8GB Ram is needed. I told the guy who is going to build me the PC and just received a razed eyebrow. 

Poser 7 Minimum specifications: 700MHz Pentium processor; Windows 2000/XP; 520MB RAM, 1GB hard disk space; Open GL-enabled graphics card or chipset recommended 

Now thats minimum. Whats comfortable - kick arse?

I'd rather spend a bit more to get something thats going to last me afew years.

Please help, I'm really crap when it comes to these things!

Start with Intel i5 750, 8GB RAM, nVIDIA 460GTX graphic card as that's the most value for money stuff you can buy right now (and kick ass besides) For high end, you could go Intel i7 930, 12GB RAM, nVIDIA 480GTX but that will be pretty expensive and you'll also need poser pro 2010 to make good use of it.

Add hard disks, monitors etc to taste and yes win7 64 is real nice as well.

Quote - Start with Intel i5 750, 8GB RAM, nVIDIA 460GTX graphic card as that's the most value for money stuff you can buy right now (and kick ass besides) For high end, you could go Intel i7 930, 12GB RAM, nVIDIA 480GTX but that will be pretty expensive and you'll also need poser pro 2010 to make good use of it.

Add hard disks, monitors etc to taste and yes win7 64 is real nice as well.

There's no use in getting that pc if you don't go win 64 bit, since you can't use all the ram with a 32bit system, only 4gb at the most.

Since you're running Poser 7, imo the first system is fine, with 4Gb of RAM, since P7 is a 32bit application, it will not use all of it at all. Poser 7 will never fully use any of the systems you buy. I'd suggest spending a little less on the system (if money is an issue) and upgrade to P8, then you really have the most. Poser 8 makes much much better use of a system with more then 1 cpu then Poser 7.

Start with windows.... are you going to use xp/vista/7 32bit of 64bit? If it will be 32bit only, get a system with 4Gb or RAM. If you go 64bit then go with 8Gb. CPU I'm not completely sure about. I would certainly go for an i5, don't go i3. If money is no issue i7 is of course cool, but I would use the money for other things. Gfx card doesn't really even matter for poser, a recent card with at least 512mb is fine. If you play games or use other 3D applications, then you will have to look into the models more closely and get a 1Gb gfx card.

Poser 7 runs reasonably well in a 1.6 GhZ Pentium M, and very nicely on a 1.8GHz core duo, but the faster the CPU the faster you will render.

I would get a 64 bit OS, as that's the way the world is going-I'd expect Poser 9 to come in a 64-bit version...

 Thanks for all your very helpful advice. 

Would anyone recommend a Mac?

Just get a PC built for "gaming", they tend to be on sale and/or special. Salespeople don't tend to understand when you tell them you need a new PC for 3D graphics, they never have for me anyway.

Personally, I'm waiting to get the cash for a Maingear

Quote - Just get a PC built for "gaming", they tend to be on sale and/or special. Salespeople don't tend to understand when you tell them you need a new PC for 3D graphics, they never have for me anyway.

Personally, I'm waiting to get the cash for a Maingear

Not true, not true, not true... A Gaming system does not automatically make a good Graphics System. Gaming Systems are interested in Frame Rates, Sound, etc.. not all those features really translate well to most Graphic programs.

Can a Gaming System also work well on Graphics, yes.. just like a Good Graphics Computer may run games well, but it is not automatic.

Look at the specs for a high end Gaming Machine, and look at the specs for a high end graphics machine. From that figure out what you need (May not need one of the Quadro Cards that many of the high end Graphics systems boast, but the rest is pretty standard.

With regards to Poser 7... if you are building a new machine, build it for Poser Pro 2010 or Poser 8.

Processor (for Rendering and Calculations), OS (if you are looking at Poser Pro 2010, get the 64 Bit OS), RAM (as cheap as it is, get the most you can afford for your OS and system. Do not get more than your OS/System can handle.. not only is it wasted, but can cause issues.), Video (Good update OpenGL Support, some Mobile Cards have issues here), Drive/Storage (for all that content you are going to buy), etc...

In regards to the processor, has anyone done a comparison with the newer Poser versions with the Phenom II vs one of the newer Intel chips? I'm looking into piecing together a new computer, and have been eying an AMD Phenom II X6...

In rendering the X6 perform about the same as the i5/i7 quads. In general posing, clothroom, hair etc, the i7s are better because the cores are faster and all these things in poser only use one core... So overall I think the Intels are better value.

You will also eventually be able to get cheap Intel hexacores, which are a lot faster then the X6, so you may wanna wait for those instead (but at least 6 months wait.)

Laser etched out of a solid block of aluminum, may I humbly suggest Apple's newest Mac Mini?
It can't hurt to go to Apple.com and have a look see.  = )