What type of hardware should I purchase?

Hey kids. I'm undertaking a project in the next month that will entail many months of VERY intensive animation and rendering, in flash, swift3d, and a third party video editor (most likely after effects). With my current setup, rendering long passages of 3d animation can bog down my computer for an hour, which when you're under the gun can be lethal to time and productivity. All this to say, I'm going to invest in a top-of the line pc. I understand that I'm going to have to drop a few (or several) grand to accomplish this. Can anyone give me some reccomendations? I'd prefer to stay with a brand that's easy to upgrade and understand (such as Dell). Can I anyone point me in the right direction?
_________________
breakout game download Medela Breast Pump

Hi Askold, what kind of budget do you have in mind ?

You should start with this:

Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 processor

Intel S5000PSLSATA Intel 5000P Dual LGA771 motherboard

4 sticks of this: 8GB DDR2 FB-DIMM = 32gb memory (you would probably only need to start with 1 8GB stick and see how it performs.

Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000rpm Serial ATA Hard Drive

nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB PCI Express graphic card

Damm you stole my setup lol.
What Julian did miss is storage HDD's. Animation takes up a damm load of space so you could get 4 500GB's (In raid 0+1) or a couple 1TB's if you want. I would also suggest to get a 30". ATM HP offers the best monitor. But it's worth waiting till January when LG and Apple release the 32" w00t w00t
Maybe get 8800 Ultra's if you going dual screen

I'd say wait for the new Mac Pros that are coming out soon, but since you're on a time budget, I'll stand back and let the Windows guys talk.

Originally Posted by Julian You should start with this: Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 processor Intel S5000PSLSATA Intel 5000P Dual LGA771 motherboard 4 sticks of this: 8GB DDR2 FB-DIMM = 32gb memory (you would probably only need to start with 1 8GB stick and see how it performs. Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000rpm Serial ATA Hard Drive nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB PCI Express graphic card

Yea.. sure..... let's have him get 32GB of ram and only a 150GB HD...

You will never use 32GBs of ram in a home pc. I would be shocked if you did.

Increase HD space and reduce RAM, IMO.

Originally Posted by microdude431 Yea.. sure..... let's have him get 32GB of ram and only a 150GB HD... You will never use 32GBs of ram in a home pc. I would be shocked if you did. Increase HD space and reduce RAM, IMO.

Did you even read what he was using the computer for? 32GB of RAM seems reasonable, however I agree that at least 1TB of space is decent.

8 gigs of ram is likely enough for whatever you might need (16 is certainly enough), but be aware that you need a 64 bit OS (and 64 bit apps) to have more then 4 gigs of ram.

Microdude and Village Idiot, have a read of the original post. If you have done any intensive animation and rendering at all, you will realise 32GB RAM is reasonable for the application required in this instance.

The original poster requires speed from high end rendering.

And by the way Askold, not all of us are kids here

Get a Intel Extreme Quad Core processor which sells for over $1000. With that and a good mobo, you will be all set except for a nice graphics card. Go for a Dual SLI card with 1GB of Memory on it. Nvidia is good.