Mid Range Gaming/Motion Graphics PC

[the guy]

I'm looking to build a new PC for serious gaming and creating motion graphics (using After Effects and the rest of Adobe CS4)

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: June/July
BUDGET RANGE: 900 to 1200
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming/Motion Graphics
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: OS, Floppy Drive Not required, Don't need a big hard drive - I use externals for most of my storage
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg/slickdeals
PARTS PREFERENCES: None
OVERCLOCKING: No. Stability and long term usage is more important
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Need speed at the best bang for my buck, nothing flashy.

Here's what I had in mind:
EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Antec earthwatts EA500 500W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power ... - Retail
OCZ Platinum Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P8008GQ - Retail
LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail
Acer H233Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model GH22NP20 - OEM
Western Digital WD6401AALS
XTRAC PADS Ripper Optical Mouse pad - Retail
Turtle Beach Ear Force X-52 Circumaural 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset
RAZER DeathAdder RZ01-00150100-R3M1 Black Optical High Precision Gaming ... - Retail

Questions:
Do I need more ram? I heard the most important issue for performance with After Effects is RAM.
Are there any areas where I can cutback to save money?

 

[tecmo34]

Well.... For a $1200 budget and since you are creating motion graphics, I would go with the Intel Core i7 920 build. You didn't list CPU or MOBO so I went with Core i7 build from Newegg using some of your original parts. I would go with 12GB of memory for your applications but to cut cost down, you can drop down to 6GB and still should be fine.

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail ($279.99) [Get the D0 Stepping if you can]
ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail ($249.99)
MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OCv3 GeForce GTX 260 896MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail ($189.99)
OCZ Platinum 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV12GS - Retail ($174.00)
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ... - Retail ($99.99)
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail ($79.99)

Your Parts List:
LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail
Acer H233Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model GH22NP20 - OEM (Change to SATA version!!)
Western Digital WD6401AALS (Make Sure it is the BLACK edition!!)
XTRAC PADS Ripper Optical Mouse pad - Retail
Turtle Beach Ear Force X-52 Circumaural 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset
RAZER DeathAdder RZ01-00150100-R3M1 Black Optical High Precision Gaming ... - Retail (Great Mouse!!! It is what I use and I love it!! )