Cinebench R10	Source: CINEBENCH

CINEBENCH is a real-world test suite that assesses your computer's performance capabilities. CINEBENCH runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor under real world circumstances. The benchmark application makes use of up to 16 CPUs or CPU cores to render a photo-reaslistic image. The scene makes use of various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders. In the first run, the benchmark only uses one CPU (or CPU core), to ascertain a reference value. On computers that have multiple CPUs or CPU cores and on those who simulate multiple CPUs (via HyperThreading or similar technologies), MAXON CINEBENCH will run a second test using all available CPU power.

Higher results are best. Cinebench is multi-threaded.

Cinebench R10 1 CPU (split between cores) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 3090 Intel Core i5 750 3032 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3309 AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3041 AMD Phenom II X6 1075T 2921 AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition 3181 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3105 AMD Phenom II X4 910e 2391 AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 2929 AMD Athlon II X4 645 2639 AMD Athlon II X4 635 2502 AMD Athlon II X4 620 2262 AMD Athlon II X3 435 2500 AMD Athlon II X2 240e 2524 x CPU (full load all cores) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 12803 Intel Core i5 750 10706 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 6356 AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 14402 AMD Phenom II X6 1075T 13575 AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition 11425 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 11104 AMD Phenom II X4 910e 8500 AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 5684 AMD Athlon II X4 645 9362 AMD Athlon II X4 635 8842 AMD Athlon II X4 620 8179 AMD Athlon II X3 435 6689 AMD Athlon II X2 240e 4907

When it comes to rendering performance per dollar, nothing compares to the Athlon II X4 645 CPU with all four of its 3.1GHz cores computing (score: 9632 for $122 cost). This is a cost-efficient chip for parallel processing applications. For sheer performance the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T wins hands down with a result of 14402.

Bibble 5.0	Source: Bibble Labs

Bibble5 is a photo-ediging program for illustrating the everyday benefits of multi-core processors. With the Athlon II X4 645 in the drivers seat, processing time to convert 50 RAW files to JPEG format is 21 seconds, a rate of 0.421 seconds per image. Intel's "Nehalem"-based quad core processors and AMD's Phenom II X6 processors are predictably fastest, yet it's still amazing how much performance you can squeeze from mainstream, quad core chip that costs just $122.