I strongly recommend you to choose hardware that meets the following requirements and you might also to consider a GPU, so let's take the following configuration :
- Latest Intel Xeon processor (currently Intel Xeon processors of the 55xx series, a.k.a. Gainestown)
- fast RAM memory modules (DDR3, RDIMM supporting 1333 MHz) where the memory modules must be arranged in multiples of 3 per socket, I recommend you small number of modules with high capacity
- a 100% OpenGL compatible graphic card (Nvidia Quatro FX580). If additional resources are needed like acceleration card, then I would recommend 1 x Nvidia Tesla C1060
- Min 500GB HD
- Windows XP 64 bit will be able to handle more than 2G/3G RAM memory for mutitask.
Good lucky, Enrico.