[GLLUG] Machine spec for 3d art

[Dylan]

Hi All,

I'm helping a friend replace his old Windows Vista machine which died in 
the heatwave. He does a lot of 3d art with blender (which has been 
terminally slow under vista.) I've provided a temporary Linux box 
(actually my testbed machine: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ with 2G ram, which 
is already faster than his old quad core with 4G) and I'm hoping that by 
the time he gets a new machine he won't want Windows on it...

The 3d art is a hobby and the budget is limited. I'll be using his 
existing graphics card and 'on-board' sound will be more than adequate. 
So, which aspects of the spec are likely to have the most impact? I'm 
assuming more cores and more memory, but which would have the most 
impact for cost? Is there an appreciable difference between AMD and 
Intel chips? Are there any other aspects of the motherboard that might 
have a bearing on rendering speeds?

Any and all comments welcome.

Dylan