3dsMax is free so long as you're not using it for profit, I'm not sure if their education policies have changed but you should still be entitled to free software licenses if you're using it to learn or for fun.
It's one of the easier programs I've come to with 3d modelling, you'll pick it up very quick, and it doesn't kill your computer, daz3d does make really high quality models though, so it's unsurprising that it's so resource intensive.
just let me know what poses you want him in, with the resolution you want him at (I could probably stretch to 3500px with Mental Ray on medium quality) with what lighting (if you want specific lighting set up) and I'll see what I can do, I'm slowly moving on to the arm plating and maybe a weapon for him in the near future, so full body renders might be a possibility