> i don't trust companies when they talk about their own products. i read it on a site of a 3d artist that seemed very professional so i took him seriously. it's on this page.

> http://www.zaon.com/promo/

ah,I can tell without looking at his site, must be Justin Winters!:)
A well known visitor and valuable member of the Discreet 3dsmax forums. Has very good knowledge of hardware, but is also know for his controversial political and moral opinions...
Concerning winXP : only MAX4.2 or MAX4.2.6 will work with it, on condition you get the right drivers.
There are people that are doing production work on XP systems.
From my side, I stick to the "recommended OS" (win2000) dictated by Discreet, simply because then you can fall back on the official support channels.