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Thanks! Yes Blender is definitely my favorite program. Sorry to hear that you have issues running it. Maybe try one of the older versions, you can download legacy versions from their website.

Thanks for the tip! I think it may be that I just don't know how to use it properly... it runs well until I have a decent model going, have a feel it's something to do with texture and quality while modeling

No worries. I'd like to help more, but it's hard to tell anything without knowing your configuration. Maybe ask at https://blenderartists.org/ they should be able to help you there.