In most scenarios Core i5 and Phenom II X4 achieved the same performance level and in most cases when one particular CPU was faster than the other the performance difference was practically negligible.

There were three important exceptions, however. When converting a full-length movie from a DVD (MPEG2) to DivX format Core i5-750 was 16% faster than Phenom II X4 965 and 20% faster than Phenom II X4 955; rendering a sample project on After Effects CS4 Core i5-750 was 22% faster than Phenom II X4 965 and 26% faster than Phenom II 955; and compressing files with WinRAR Core i5-750 was 19% faster than Phenom II X4 965 and 22% faster than Phenom II X4 955.

So for the user working professionally with video editing, Core i5 is the CPU to go and there is no question about it. For the average user picking the “right” CPU will depend on the brand he or she likes best, although the results move the tip of the scale towards Intel. Another item that may help decide the best CPU to choose from is the cost of the motherboard, which was not analyzed in the present review.

One very important discovery made during this review is that if you have a high-end video card, the CPU has almost no influence in the system gaming performance. So if you are building a high-end gaming machine, maybe it is better to pick a cheaper processor and invest the price difference on a faster video card.