Phenom Quad core for Encoding

[cogman]

This next summer I am interested in upgrading my computer. Right now I have an Intel C2D system OC to 3.0 GHZ and an old Althlon XP rig laying around. So I have looked and even in the x264 benchmark thread nobody has reported Phenom speeds of encoding. So what can I expect roughly? I hear that Phenoms are scale better at highly threaded jobs then Intels do, and they are cheaper. So how does the speed go roughly (with x264)

I think it might go something like Intel Quad OC > Phenom >= Intel Quad > C2D OC > C2D

Is that right?

What do you all think, should I just swap out for a Penryn based quad, or should I upgrade my amd system and use both (perhaps even use x264 farm)

[Dark Shikari]

x264 runs faster on Intel chips, I believe.

[cogman]

humm, all righty then. I wish there where a few more numbers out there. Though, Phenom did flop for the most part so I am probably just getting my hopes up for a semi cheaper quad (really, the cheapest route for me it to upgrade my current system)

[check]

Their decoding performance seems lacklustre, at least. (http://www.cccp-project.net/smf/index.php?topic=2466.0)

[Sharktooth]

the CPU was not the issue there. if you read carefully his CPU utilization was around 30-40%...
the problem was caused by the adobe crappy codecs...

[ronnylov]

Here's an comarison with mainconcept h.264 codec:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1074&model2=871&chart=431

At the same frequency the Phenom 9700 is faster than Q6600.
Phenom 9500 is about the same speed as Q6600 but at 200 MHz lower frequency. However the overclockability of the intel ships are much better than Phenom so it seems that your speed ranking is correct.

But x264 might be different than mainconcept encoder...

You will need a new motherboard and new memory to upgrade the AthlonXP. If your intel motherboard suports Penryn then you can just upgrade the CPU to a yorkfield. Otherwise you may as well go for the Q6600 which is going to be cheaper after the intel price cuts on April 20.
http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/Intel_Desktop%2C_Mobile_%26_Server_CPU_Price_Cut_Schedule/5590.html

EDIT: OK here´s the x264 encoding benchmarks:
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=442&pgno=0#Results
If you look at the data trends results there is a comparison of Phenom 9500, Q6600, Q9450 and Q9550 all running at 2,67 GHz and there the phenom is slightly faster than Q6600 but the yorkfields are faster than the phenom (and seems to gain by high memory speed).