Yes, I can see that you're indeed very new to the whole idea of computers! Here's what I suggest, first, try researching online before you order anything, there are numerous articles, reviews, benchmarks on different hardware, try the following list:
http://www.3dchips.net/content/review.php?id=67
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/index.asp
http://www.3dchips.net/content/review.php?id=66&page=23
http://www.highend3d.com/boards/showflat.p...p;o=&fpart=
The hardware you choose should be based on the software you will use. If you wanna use Maya, for instance, there are several issues to keep in mind, first, Maya only uses ONE CPU for all its work, except rendering, Maya can not use more than 1.5GB of memory, Maya will cause you trouble if you have a unsupported graphic card, see http://www.alias.com/eng/support/maya/qual...ux.html#spec-OS
So here's what I suggest;
Motherboard Tyan Thunder (it's known to have a better performance than the Tiger)
CPU, primary, Opteron 248 or 250, if you can afford it. You see the catch here, is that, if you're just starting to learn animation and Maya, you dont need that second CPU, but since your motherboard has dual support, you can add it anytime in the future.
Memory two 1GB DDR-400 dimms with ECC
DVD+RW optical drive (this ONE drive would do everything you'll ever need, you don't need to waste money and buy THREE!!!)
Hard Drive Seagate Cheetah SCSI 10,000rpm 36GB, becasue it's much faster that SATA drives and more reliable (Again, if you're just starting animation, you don't need 120GB of storage space, until later, and you can always add another hard drive easily, the benefit of this, of course, is that, Hard drive prices will decrease over time, as with all other computer hardware, so you'll save money actualy)
Video card, I agree with Nvidia Quadro FX 1100
Speakers, keyboard, mouse, etc. get anything you want, just keep in mind, Maya needs a three button mouse, PS/2 to operate properly.
Have fun!
Michael
