Dangerous question

[Scania]

Ok i fear i might as well get temp our permabanned for asking this question. Its bound to be partially answered if i look through every CG forum on the net buth i kind of wanna start doing things before retiement.

So what i want to ask is about setup. My situation is this. I like to make cg its a fun hobby buth i am very new. I am a student so money is short so i decided to spend money on my computer insted of programs, it still isent more then midrange. My tho main projekts are A. creating graphics for V-jay sequenses that me and a friend use att parties, at this part nearly any setup works. However my found backburner project is games creation. Exept for that i attempt the occational high poly model every now and then.

So to cut to the case what do you recommend for a free gratis setup of software. I am planning on making the game in a program like Irrlicht Ogre our equivalent. I will have to see i am still at a quite basic level in c++.

My computer is equiped as follows

CPU 2,5ghz Amd athlon
RAM 4GB ddr2 (crappy bus)
Graphics card Asus 9600GT MG
OS windows vista (64)

I am currently using Blender for reasons of being free and was plannigng on using Gimp for textures and DAZ for easier modelling.

I wold be ever so happy for any suggestion especially if anyone knows anything that will produce resaults equal our just a little less then Blender buth witha a more managable GUI.