Round 5: MP3 encoding
Now root kit free.
If there's one modern multimedia task that affects the broadest swath of people, it might be MP3 encoding. Even though loading music into iTunes from a CD isn't exactly demanding, it's a common enough task that is easy to relate to the test results. iTunes also has the distinction of being a multithreaded application, which means that it's programmed to take advantage of multiple processor threads, making it ideal for dual-core CPU testing.
MP3 encoding test (in seconds)(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
The results from this round are second only to the 3D gaming results in terms of AMD dominance. The only AMD processor that's slower than an Intel CPU is the Athlon 64 X2 3800+, but even that CPU manages to outpace Intel's lower-end dual-core chips, the Pentium D 830 and the Pentium D 820, in ripping an album to MP3 in iTunes, by 9 and 14 seconds, respectively. If you think that's bad for Intel, the difference between the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ and the Pentium Extreme Edition 840 is even worse, to the tune of a 23-second difference, or a whopping 20 percent.
How much more of a beating can Intel take? Will the referee need to step in and stop the fight?
Winner: AMD
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Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
Round 5 |
Round 6 |
Round 7 |
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AMD |
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Intel |
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On to round 6
