[Steve Kallevik]

It all depends if you need a system that is A) 25% faster or B) 50% faster or C) 100-150% faster. A=i7 950; B=i7 980x (6-core); C=dual 6-core Xeon. I have both an A and a C and I also use AE quite a bit. For performance per dollar, you can’t go wrong with an i7-980x and 24GB of ram. However, if you have clients sitting over your shoulder, then I highly recommend a dual 6-core PC.

On a side note: can you try selling your Quadro 5000 because neither Premiere nor AE can leverage more power than a $200 GTX 460 can provide. Unless you happen to use a 3D program such as C4D, Maya, etc…