Visual,
Out of your three choices i would go with the most expensive canopus you can afford. I have had alot of luck with those. Did alot of work on raptors a few years back and never had any problems. I dont particularly like pinnacle. I would also go with scsi drives, at least for your scratch disk. As for a system, if you arent going to go the G5 route...Go with a dual processor setup, again this is all pending on your budget, i have done alot of successful work on single processor systems. If dual, if you have alot of money go a dual xeon, if low on cash go with a dual mp. The faster the better. Keeping rendering time down is the most important thing. Ram is a must at least 1GB. Harddrive space go at least 200Gb. Also go with a dual monitor setup it helps alot.
If you give me a budget ill help you out some more...Let me know.
-Brad