Quote Originally Posted by rdv View Post
The areas I wanted to improve performance was in encoding video and audio (I have large DVD, CD and Vinyl collections) and the benchmarks indicate major improvements with that type of processing.
This part of your post was particularly striking. The primary reason for my upgrade (from P5W DH Deluxe/E6420/2GB PC2-5400) to P5Q Deluxe (P45), Q9450 & 4GB PC2-8000 is Video Encoding, Editing & Authoring. I use my PC primarily for all sorts of audio/video encoding & editing. Mainly High Definition Full HD 1080p Encoding using various formats (x264, VC-1, WMV-HD, WMA 10 5.1 Audio, etc.)

One of the main reasons I chose Q9450, aside from being a Quad Core, was SSE4.1 ... specifically aimed at Video Encoding (For applications that support it). I use Mar '08 version of TMPGEnc Xpress which has full support for SSE4.1 and the upcoming full Expression Encoder & the new version of Vegas Pro, both will support SSE4.1

While @ stock - the difference between my new & my overclocked old setup wasn't breathtaking - I'm expecting "Major" difference after I have successfully stabilized my overclocked new setup. Your 40% overall increase and over 40% increase in encoding processes is extremely promising. I'm impressed, and excited at the same time to try out my processes.

For a video encode process using the following:

Feature length, 2 ~ 2.5 hrs Video
h.264 1080p (1920 X 1080) 6 Channel DTS (5.1 Surround) 12 Mbps MKV Container --> WMV-HD (VC-1) WMA 10 5.1 Surround 12 Mbps 2-Pass VBR

My OC'd E6420 (350X8: 2800Mhz) took 24 ~ 26 hours
My Stock Q9450 (333X8: 2666Mhz) took 17 hours

Can't wait to run the process in a stable OC'd Q9450 (preferably 3666Mhz ~ 3800Mhz)

I'll report back on that.