Help: Building Computer for HD Video Editing

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by PrivatePixel

I'm guessing that the OP had a budget in mind, which would have removed the i7 from consideration; add an i7-compatible mobo to the equation and things get expensive in a hurry.

An i5 would be comparable price-wise, but the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition is no slouch in performance, and reviews have shown that it can out-muscle the i7 940 in some benchmarks. It is multiplier unlocked as well, so overclocking is relatively simple.

overlocking an i7 is pretty cake even without it being unlocked. running mine at 4.2GHZ thats roughly a 63% increase in clockspeed over stock (i7 920) to do the same on the phenom you are talkin 5.542GHz and good luck hitting that aside from possibly some of the most extreme cooling solutions.

And in regards to video encoding (what the OP was interested in) AMD gets stomped

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2819/6

2.66GHz i7 walks away from 3.4GHz 965 amd

"More of the same here - the 965 BE is faster than any LGA-775 Intel CPU here, but compared to i7 it's noticeably slower."

that said, amd def has a place in the value for the money segment. But right now intel owns the high end. And now that the i7-980 is out its even bigger of a lead