My Athlon X2 does quite well for my hobby/beginner NLVE home movie projects. As i ramp up and expand my projects as I learn, I expect will be hitting more of a wall waiting for render times. I purposely went low end on the clock speed to save $$ when I built it, but shortly i will be swapping up the CPU. From 3600 to about 5000. With 2GB of ram and with prices the way they are now, I wil likley double that as well. (yes, I am aware of the 3.2GB thing) Rendering = Number Crunching right? So Processor(s) is the key right?

Remember this "Your PC is only as fast as its slowest component."