Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
Apple iTunes and Lame MP3 are not quad-core optimized, with performance numbers that scale almost perfectly to the clock speed of each system.
The good news for people who spend a lot of time converting audio files is that they need not spend much money on a processor, since a fast dual-core can easily match a quad core in these programs. In the charts above, CPU cooling is likely the only barrier to an overclocked dual-core system win.
The DivX codec gets a fairly significant boost from added cores, while Xvid responds to clock speed alone.
MainConcept really punishes the $650 build’s dual-core CPU, while the $1,250 machine’s X4 945 barely trails the $2,500 system’s X4 955.