Yes, before you ask, I've been to the Maya qualified hardware charts.

What I need to know is this; if I'm only using Maya for modelling, texturing, and setting up environments with simple lighting, will a quadro/fireGL make THAT much of a difference?

My main concern is cost here, and the ability to play the newest video games well. I'm not going to be doing any HDRI rendering, dynamic lighting, super hi-res manipulation, particles, etc where I could see a DCC card shine.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Thanks a bunch.