Going back ten years ago...
The fastest computer for 3D graphics was an Onyx2 from Silicon Graphics... depending on the configuration, it was either as large as a minibar fridge, a large fridge or around a quarter of a tennis court.
Maya came out in 1998 and replaced PowerAnimator (did I get the name right?), running on Silicon Graphics hardware of course, which cost around $20,000.
Google was still headquartered in a garage, not in Silicon Graphics' place (SGI later lost lots of money and sold their headquarters to Google).
StarCraft came out! :attn:
Amusingly, at school, we used AltaVista... :p
C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!