perhaps a foolish rendering question

[Mojo]

Is the video card used in rendering a 3D scene? If I had a certain computer setup, would it render a 3dsmax scene faster with a better video card?

I am guessing no, as I assume it is all just data pumped through the CPU (unless you are watching it render I guess...)

And if I am just rendering a movie, would one 1.2 ghz processor render faster than 2 600 mhz ones (ignoring the overhead, in a purely theoretical world) if that is the only application I am running?

I am deciding what I need to built a decent video editing machine for my own personal tinkering, any tips are greatly appreciated.

Edit to add
------------
Currently considering:
- Athlon Thunderbird 1.2GHz (266MHz)
- Iwill KK266-R
- 256 MB PC133 Crucial Ram
- AIW Radeon 32 MB
- 2 IBM Deskstar GXP 20 GB (using striping)

good start/bad start?

 

[cgmxs]

You though right, all programs like 3D Studio Max currently only use the CPU for the final rendering of a scene, but a better video card would speed up the development process. Xbit Labs (www.xbitlabs.com) has a nice comparison of different video cards under max.

 

[benjamit]

you may want to add more ram
depending on how much editing you'll be doing

 

[jkellynewyork]

fsdgs