I got myself a new workstation:
AMD 64 4000+ (very very fast), 2 gb RAM (which is more that enough), stripping raid, but I installed XP Pro 32bit. I read that max works ok in 64bit, so I guess that viz will work too. About the plug ins, I am not sure whether they will work or not. But I think that XP 64 have not hit the market yet (I think that the beta version testing ended a month ago).
On what concerns hds, I kind of dislike Maxtors (I have lost a couple of them in the past, along with my data!), I use Western Digitals mainly. Actually on the new machine, I use two 36 GB 10.000 rpm SATAs stripped (for system), along with a 200GB SATA for data. It really rocks.
Finally, I got an ATI Fire GL 7100 for about 850€ (I think it is a bit cheaper in the US) and I am reeeeeeeaaaaally content!
