so far the only way i can see what a piece looks like is to bring it into the render window.

is there a way/site where i can see what EACH object looks like so i can look for the piece by look. instead of bringing each object one at a time, deleting it, next one, deleting it, etc, etc, etc

You could use 'Control+F' to replace it with each new object, but I don't think there is any other way.

If you mean an Item (like a chest, or whatever)??

Then right click the item and select Preview

(if you leave the Preview window visible, selecting another item will auto-display it in the preview window)

Is that what you mean?