Benchmarks: Adobe Software
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 is a widely used video production program that relies heavily on the CPU and benefited greatly from the added power of the new Core i7 processors.
The Core 2 Duo E6700 took 60 seconds to render the video file we used, while the Phenom X4 9950 was a fraction faster, doing it in 58 seconds. The E8600 took 49 seconds, while the Q9650 was more impressive at just 29 seconds. The Core i7 920 and 940 knocked it over in 24 seconds.
Overclocking the Extreme Edition processor further reduced the time to just 18 seconds. The standard Core i7 965 Extreme Edition processor proved to be 24% faster at rendering in Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 when compared to the Core 2 Quad Q9650.
Adobe After Effects CS3 also appears to make good use of the power being offered by the Core i7 processors. The Core 2 Quad Q9650 is again the fastest non-Core i7 processor tested. Despite this, the Q9650 took over a minute more to render the media when compared to the Core i7 920.
Further marginal improvements were seen as clock speed increased on the Core i7.