system for video encoding

[S.A.S]

system for hd video editing/encoding. very large files (up to 50gb's). i think an i7 would be appropriate, but my brother does not want to pay that sort of money for it. top around 350 just for motherboard, cpu and ram.

was thinking the AMD quads are cheaper but do they perform as well at video editing/encoding compared to their intel counterparts

 

[95thrifles]

i7 would be best, either 1156

Intel Core i7 860 2.80Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £226.99 (£197.38)
MSI P55-CD53 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard £99.99 (£86.95)
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Dual Channel (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £69.99 (£60.86)
Total : £396.97

or 1366

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £211.99 (£184.34)
XFX X58i Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £134.99 (£117.38)
OCZ Obsidian 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600Mhz Triple Channel Kit (OCZ3OB1600LV6GK) £99.99 (£86.95)
Total : £446.97

As you can see 1366 is £100 over budget but the 1156 can be had for only £50 over budget, if you can convince him to up his budget to this by explaining for the extra £50 he gets double the performance??
If not and 350 is top then yeah either an AM3 quad core or i5 quad core, both will be about the same really