Life like Opossum

I know of the best and simplest solution to this problem. Uninstal OSX and install a Linux based os that comes pre-loaded with more netowrking tools, such as Backtrack. While you will still need to download a couple modules, your overall experience will be better and there will be more people who can help you out.

Personaly I would go for a motherboard that would allow you to use Nvidia GPU's. While Radeon may perform betetr as a single card, you may want to sli in the future. Purchasing a secong graphics card and running it in SLI will be cheaper than updating most of your rig when you want more graphics.