Speed it UP!

[shwarz]

My current system has:
Thermaltake PurePower W0068RUC ATX12V 2.0 460W Power Supply
SUNBEAM Samurai IC-SA-SI Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
DFI LanParty UT nF4-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard
EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500BPBOX
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (4 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200C2PRO
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3200826AS 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
5.1 soundcard Creative Soundblaster Audigy 4


I recently started using Adobe After Affects CS3 and have realized I need a faster computer to be able to handle this app and the things I want to do with it since I lag while playing or rending in the CS3 app. Thus I have a $445 budget to upgrade. Here's what I was thinking:

1) Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz ($195)
2) Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM ($70)
And that leaves room for a $180 mobo(or cheaper), I'm undecided as to which one to go with. I don't need SLI and I may or may not ever overclock, depends on if I want to learn to do so and actually get around to doing it.
Any suggestions?

[glc]

Asus P5K. You will also need DDR2 ram.

Why don't you just put a dual core Athlon in your current board to tide you over for a while?

[peekaboo]

i had a 3500+ and i upgraded to a X2 4200 and i really feel the difference.
i'm a heavy multitasker and the new cpu really helps.
right now i have 3 open folders, 5 firefox tabs, matlab, excel, notepad, messenger, vlc, skype and outlook running and it's smooth as silk.

i've never used after effects but i often have photoshop open and the 4200 handles that just fine (mind you, the 3500+ was also fine, just not with everything open at once).