I think you should look into the 6 core intels or the new 8 or 12 core AMDs. Make sure you get at least 6 cores, that gives you at least 1 for each toon.
I bet you could put together a 16 core AMD for $3k. they are $300 for the 8 core, get two of them. $500 for the motherboard (dual processor support), $200 for the case $400 for the video card. Then the rest on HD and memory. 24 gigs ram would be about $700, another $400 or so for some nice HDs.
16 cores would be nuts!!! That's how I'd spend my $3k.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-266-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-212-_-Product
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