Welcome,

To run Maya 8, just check with the autodesk site for the specs that the software requires. People on this site run Maya on various specs of PC.

I would recommend that you use a dual core processor (I am an Intel fan, but if you are on a budget get AMD), and get a decent speed 2.8GHz or above. For RAM I would recommend 2Gb+ or DDR3. SATA drives are supposed to run at the equivelent speeds of SCSI (so they say), so it depends on where you keep your projects. I have mine on server, so, it doesnt really matter if it is SCSI, ATA or SATA (my OS boots from a SCSI Drive, the rest of my system is ATA). The only issue you would have is to choose the right graphics card. Autodesk have a list of supported cards, both NVidia and ATI. But your choice will depend on what you want to do. A new/high spec GForce style gaming card is jaut as good as a Quatro style hardware card and it so much cheaper.

Others on the site will have different views as we all like our own system set up.

Mine is:

• Dual Intel Xeon 2.8GHz Processors
• 2Gb DDR3 Ram
• 40 Gb SCSI Drive
• 40 Gb ATA Drive
• 80 Gb ATA Drive
• GForce 6600GT 128Mb DDR3 Graphics Card

This works fine for me, and is fast enough.

As for a capture card, anyone will capture what's on screen, but you are better off just using software capture tools, like Snap-It or Camtasia...

If money is no object get yourself to Boxxs' website and build your ultimate device (mine cost $18,000)

Enjoy ur time at SM.