System Builder Marathon, June 2012: $2000 Performance PC

Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding

Our iTunes-based workload is single-threaded, so we end up with results that vary based on, one, architecture, and two, clock rate. The benefit of a hexa-core chip is completely masked. Not surprisingly, then, the slightly more efficient Ivy Bridge architecture manages to outmaneuver Sandy Bridge-E at any given frequency.

Despite its complexity, we hit 4.6 GHz on our Core i7-3930K. That's the same ceiling encountered on the Core i7-3770K. But because Ivy Bridge doesn't respond well to voltage increases, heating up quickly, we can't safely push any higher.

Lame is also single-threaded, so its results mirror iTunes.

Both HandBrake and MainConcept benefit from extra cores, but not by as much as higher clock rates. The result is a near-tie between the current overclocked build and the former, six-core machine’s baseline.