rendermonkey1 :
If you want fast, a pair of those Xeon's is the way to go. As far as photorealistic, that all depends on your skills with 3D Studio max.
Anyway, if you are going to spend that kind of money on processors, then I suggest looking into Quadro video cards for the best results.
Thanks.
emmm now i'm using notebook with :
1. ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650
2. Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator HD
3. Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 cpu M540 @ 2.53GHz
4. Ram: 4GB
5. 64-bit Operating System
I'm only using Mental ray for rendering. some only use 15min to render a photorealistic effect. but if the more complecated it is, it take more then 10hrs to complete ..... using same material,same setting.....
then..... where is the problems.....