Neither. You should in-source your projects to an arch-viz company here in the states.
Seriously (wait, I was serious) if you plan on using 3dsmax then yes, you should get some training if you want to shorten the learning curve. An alternative would be to buy some books, dvd's, and find some tutorials and teach yourself. Or a combination of all of the above.
Farms are faster, so if you can afford it, then why not? Even if it's only a couple of extra computers.