Trying to reduce rendering time

Would a new 12-core 2.66 ghz "Westmere" render a lot faster than my existing 8-core 2.8 ghz "Harpertown." Anyone had any experience with this upgrade? It's a lot of money but it could be worth it for significant time savings.

rendering what, exactly? MPEG-2 or H264 in Compressor? Or rendering a timeline in FCP 7? After effects? Motion?

I would not invest any money in a Mac Tower. Rumor has it they are on their way out - announcement to come early 2012. My 2011 Macbook Pro renders just as fast as my 8 Core tower.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Rendering a FCP timeline and exporting (upres from 720 to 1080) converted files