x264 HD Benchmark v3.0

x264 HD Benchmark tests the processor's performance when converting a small 720p HD movie clip into a x264 file. It runs the encoding process four times with two passes on each encoding run and returns results in frames per second (FPS). Since video encoding is done in frames, higher frame rate translates in lower time needed to finish encoding, and in the results table you'll find average results of all eight encoding runs.

First time we see Core i5 661 in a multithreaded test that really puts some strain on the cores, and it does really well really, considering it's a Dual Core processor. It manages again to stay close to Q9400 which is not a bad result.

Handbrake 0.9.4

Handbrake video encoding utility is small, free, easy to use and works great when encoding DVDs to MKV files. For this test the first three chapters of the "U2 Go Home" DVD are encoded to MKV format using the Regular - High preset. It uses x264 codec with AAC audio codec. Needed time in seconds is measured, how long it takes the CPU to encode the video. As you can see from the graphs it scales almost perfectly with multithreaded CPUs.

Just like the x264 Benchmark, Handbrake creates a lot of work for processor cores so the Core i5 661 performs similar to the previous test. Hyper-Threading helps to beat the triple core Phenom II but it can't really match the performance of other "true" quad core processors.

Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate v5.1.26

Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate is great when you need to do a lot of day-to-day small video encoding from one format to another. It has an extremely wide range of encoding presets and supports almost every known video format. For this test the HD H.264/MPEG4 AVC preset is used to encode a 1080p high definition movie trailer clip.

Surprisingly commercial versions of video encoders seem to be stuck with using just two cores fully, while load on the third and fourth core varies from 15-25%. Higher clock frequencies do make a difference in this test, and Core i5 661 has a lot MHz to throw around. It sill can't beat Core i5 750 though, but comes close enough.

DivX Converter 7.2

A long time ago DivX was the format almost everyone used every day and now, finally it’s getting the x264 codec with its 7.2 version. Too little, too late and with bad multithreading support, but still used by a wide range of users.

Again Core i5 661 matches the performance of Core i5 750 only thanks to high frequencies and bad multithreading support in DivX Converter.