Help picking CPU

[spartancal]

My current computer specs are:

Intel Core Duo Quad Q6700 processor
8 Gb of DDR2 800 Ram Memory CL 4 4-4-4-12 timing
Intel Bad Axe 2 motherboard D975XBX2
(2) 1 TB Caviar Black 7200 RPM Sata3 Hard Drives
(1) Nvidia 8800 GTS Video Card

No over clocking at this time

I use my computer primarily to encode videos, rip music, work on photographs with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Handbrake and ITunes.

Will building a new system based on I7-950 CPU and DDR 3 memory significantly reduce encoding times with Handbrake?

Would building a system based on Intel SB CPU offer any additional benefits over the I7-950?

I do plan to over clock.

 

[nyker96]

the handbrake like megui that I use for h264 encoding uses x264 in its gut. You need to check the following x264 benchmark results to find the processor that performs the best which will also be the best one for handbrake:

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=669&pgno=1

from looks of it, i7 9xx is excellent for this purpose.