Am I expecting too much?

I've modeled a structure that has ~8,940 bricks in it that I want to change the opacity on, in smaller groups over time. Composer just can't seem to handle that, bogging down severely. Where I'm still a novice, perhaps someone has a suggestion on how to accomplish my goal, or is my PC limiting me?

I'm also noticing that the bricks seem to be starting their change from zero even though I don't start any of them changing until 2 seconds in. Is there a control I'm missing?

Thanks!

System:

Dell T1700

Core i&-4770 CPU @ 3.4GHz

16GB RAM

K2200 graphics card running the approved driver.

All green checks in Rx.

SolidworksComposer