str8todamoney :
So another program would encode faster?
Not necessarily. Another program will only encode faster with hardware acceleration, and since you can't do Quick Sync, your only choice there would be CUDA with a Nvidia GPU or AMD's version of encode acceleration (not nearly as well supported). The best quality is a pure CPU encode, though (Quick Sync is very good too, but you don't have that option).
But I agree with nforce4max. Add more RAM, if you can. That won't speed it up much, but it should help. I also agree with his point about your HDD (if it's slow). A slow HDD can't be written to quickly, causing a bottle neck.