Hard- and -software + Blender considerations

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1

Hi,

Ive been planning upgrade for my daily work and would like to hear your impressions reg.
optimal AMD vs Intel(SSE4) and Windows 64/Linux 64, what I am going to build:

  1. Blender on (at least) 2x Dual Xeon (top-priced Nvidias impossible, GPU Blender render limitations, also OSL involved)
  2. Any suggested/proven Blender+Linux64 configuration? (considered so far: OpenSUSE, LinuxMint, RH; for Gentoo I dont have that much time…))
  3. GTX 650Ti have already, seems enough for solid/wireframe mode and GPU/Nodes preview too.

Any experiences/suggestions welcome !