I have a computer that has old and new parts:

Intel 775 (Prescott I believe, has hyperthreading) 3.0 GHZ
1 gig of PC3200 memoru
80 gig SATA drive
ATI 2900Pro (512mgs video) and a PSU to support it) (it is running at the PCIe x16 speed)

With the purchase of the 2900, I turned on every effect setting (execpt bloom) and set all the model settings to the highest. The game displayed well but would stutter (and my hard drive start chugging) when I would rotate the view to include new and/or previous items into the view. For example, I would zoom in close to the cap ship to see the wonderful model IronClad created, but then rotate my view to show another ship and hte game would stutter (and hard drive going). A split (or maybe a whole) second later, the game returns and the FPS is fine. I let the game go back to defaults (high on most of the settings, low bumps on others) and it is fine.

I get that the problem is more than likely on my end. I would like to know from the hardware/SofSE experts two things:
1. What is the corralation between the hard drive/game stuttering when bringing in new(and/or previously viewed units brought back into view)units into the view? I would have thought that the 512megs of video memory would be enough to hold the textures/models in memory.
2. What would be the specs required to view this game in all its glory at highest/near highest settings.

I admit that my knowledge in hardware is lacking. I humbily ask for you to share your knowledge/wisdom if you so desire.