Benchmark Results: 1080p WMV With VirtualDub And DivX
For DivX encoding, we’ve selected the unconstrained profile and used the highest quality possible. The encoding was done with rate control set to one pass and a fixed quantizer of one. Enhanced multi-threading and Experimental SSE2/4 was enabled; everything else was set at default values.
Like any good video encoding app, the DivX codec can fully utilize more than one core.
It looks like DivX doesn't really like the Phenom II X3 710. It's not a problem with power management; it's the number of cores. DivX and VirtualDub don’t seem to know how to fully utilize all three cores at the same time. So, having that additional core is a liability here. There is a solution--simply disable the third core or force core affinity for VirtualDub to just two cores.
Performance-wise, there is hardly any difference between running with and without power management. Taking twice as long to finish, the Phenom II X3 710 cannot even came close to the Phenom II X4s. If you want to choose the best bang for the buck processor, grab the Athlon II X2 250.
