It should be pretty fine I'm Sure. I don't know what you have currently but I guess you should look forward to a 30% decrease in render times and such. If you want smooth previews you shouldn't be worrying too much.
Yes an i7 would be better but that is kind of hard to say since the phenom has more cores. Look into building your own computer. If you shave off $100 for a system builder copy of windows, that still leaves room for $520 of hardware.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.