So you've decided to take the plunge and build an animation workstation. Here's my advice: Don't do it! Run for your life!! Save yourself while you still can!!! Go on without me . . .

Are they gone now? Good. Okay, now that the sensible people have left, it's just us lunatics. While they're off buying boring, old pre-built computers – what with all their warranties and tech support – you and I are gonna throw caution into the wind and make ours from scratch. We'll buy a bunch of shiny computer parts, throw 'em into a box, shake it around a little and blam!, we'll have home-brewed a monster animation rig.

Let's clarify some things first. There aren't too many folks building their own Macs and SGIs. So what I'm talking about here is a Windows or Linux box. Now, Linux is fun to say, but I honestly know next to nothing about it, what I'm really talking about is an Intel or AMD based Windows box.

Second clarification. What's an animation workstation? Well, garden-variety PCs are general purpose computers. When you put high-end parts in them that are geared toward a specific task, those PCs get the much cooler-sounding moniker: "workstation." In our case, that specific task set is animation – 3D, 2D, compositing and a little video editing.

Building the animation workstation is a multi-phase process:
1. Select components
2. Assemble them
3. Install an operating system
4. Install software.

Selecting Components
Animation workstations generally have state-of-the-art components compared to the basic family PC. (Although a PC built for 3D gaming will share many traits of a good workstation.) Few tasks tax a machine quite like hardcore 3D graphics and video editing do. All of the subsystems, such as storage, data transfer, CPU, RAM and graphics, work very, very hard to keep the beautiful pictures looking good and moving fast on-screen.

Here is a roundup of the parts you'll need to select. I'll even throw in some highly subjective opinions on specific parts. This is sure to spawn many angry emails, and be out-dated within minutes of press time, but what the heck.

Both the InWin Q500 (l) and the Coolermaster's ATC-210 cases will house your wares efficiently and with style.

Case
The enclosure is what you'll put all this other stuff into, so you might as well make it a good one. If you're like me, you'll end up upgrading your workstation, instead of buying a whole new computer every few years. The case is the one part you may never need to replace, because it's just the guts that will change.

Get a mid- to full-sized ATX tower. You want lots of room to root around in, and you may need the extra drive bays someday. Spend the extra money for a quality case, too. The cheap ones don't have rolled edges on their internal, stamped metal parts. This can make for some awful lacerations. I learned that the hard way. Bleeding all over a $250 CPU is a bad thing.

Most cases come with a power supply, but you want to make sure that it's rated high enough to provide power to all of your internal components. A 350 -to- 450 watt, P4 ready or Athlon rated power supply is a necessary investment. Underpowering your system can be harmful. I use the Silencer 400 ATX from PC Power & Cooling. Other good brands are Enermax and Antec.