Best Configuration for Motion Graphics

I'd just like to point out that the insinuation made my Render that Intel are the only manufacturer to go for for "reliable" CPUs is a flat out lie. There are an awful lot of companies that invest millions of dollars on AMD kit in the professional HPC and server space and they wouldn't get it if it was unreliable. If they're good enough for the likes of Cray (and Apple eventually, or so they say), they're good enough for you. I myself am the happy owner of a dual socket Opteron system and i've had absolutely no problems. I built it myself too, so not a pro job. If you know how to build a machine well, you won't have problems.

If you were to buy a system based on the "4 by 4" initiative by AMD, you'd get a dual socket dual core solution with a painfree upgrade path to a maximum of eight-cores in a few months time, should you want it. I have also seen reviews of these systems that suggests the far greater amount of memory bandwidth offered by the Opteron architecture (which increases as you add a CPU, unlike Intel systems which have to share bandwidth between as many CPUs as you add) is ideal for multi-tasking and especially memory intensive operations such as video editing. You might also want to consider that traditionally AMD processors for whatever reason absolutely fly when you're rendering in Maya (I know, I use it).

The only disadvantage to going with a dual-socket Opteron system at the moment is cost. You'd be getting a professional grade motherboard with a ton of features that would be cheap compared to a similar thing from a year ago, but still a good deal more than a consumer level board for a Core 2 processor. Bang for buck, Intel wins. For overall memory performance and ease of upgrade, AMD wins. If you are after a system right now, Core 2 still has an edge. If you can afford to wait 6 months, you'd probably be able to purchase a true quad-core AMD processor and motherboard for a reasonable price that trashed the Core 2.

Jam it back in, in the dark.