ArcGIS/ArcView question. I just built a new workstation that should be
able to handle this software with no problem but it doesn't seem much
faster than the previous machine and even a little slower in some
areas.  Below are the stats of the old and new computers.

OLD:
P4 3.0ghz, 1GB ram, onboard video

NEW:
Dual Core AMD Opteron (1.8ghz) with a second on the way.
2 nvidia quadro fx1400 in SLI mode (128mb ram on each)
4GB registered ram

I've installed all the newest drivers as far as I know and have the
video cards set to work with ArcGIS. Any clue what the problem is?

ArcGIS isn't multithreaded so the P4 is beating 1/2 of the Opteron on
sheer cycles. At the 2005 UC the ESRI technical director (guy with the
big beard) stated that they're aiming to add multithreading in version
10 which should be the one after 9.2, they never "roll over" version
numbers.