Improving encode times

[Pkiely]

Hi folks just a quick question that google isn't being directly helpful over, I've been spending more and more time in video production, with After Effects and such programs, but it's getting to the point where the desired effects I want on some things are taking days to render fully!
Whats the biggest benefit to improve the render time and encoding?
I got e2180, 2gb RAM, 8800gts 512, abit i35 pro, i'm not looking to build a new pc for another 2 years or so, but maybe a component or 2 if it halves or the time, but not if its marginal improvements. Cheers

 

[Pkiely]

Thanks for responses guys. I'm on XP 32 Pro.
As for encoding, if it's a draft i'll do a LQ xvid internally, if it's medium + beyond, i'll be rendering uncompressed/huffyuv and encode with x264 with aac audio, 720p format.

I'm not that brave at OC'ing, f.e. I only have the 2180 at 2.4ghz when it can easily easily do far more! But Q6600 idea - the application benefits from quad core? And do you think the times would be marginal or pretty good.
Cheers!