System Builder Marathon: Performance & Value

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Benchmark Results: Audio and Video Encoding

Both iTunes and Lame appear to be either single- or dual-threaded at best, scaling evenly with clock speed for Core i7, Core 2 Quad, and Pentium dual-core processors.

Using TMPG, the DivX codec gets a small boost from the $5,000 machine’s Core i7 architecture, while Xvid appears unaffected. The DivX distinction is likely due to Core i7’s added memory bandwidth.

Mainconcept results are a little more difficult to interpret, but it appears that extra cores, extra speed, extra cache, and extra memory all play key roles in optimizing its efficiency.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
84 Comments Comment from the forums
  • timelist
    Next time when you do this, can you please do a 1250 AMD pc? and see how it compares and all that good stuff?
    Reply
  • gkay09
    Well can u please do a comparision of various builds considering its alternatives both from the Green and the Blue company ...so that we can guess at what price point, which will be better....that will be more informative...
    Reply
  • katmai
    i would really be interested to see amd into this also, because so far it has been all intel, but as far as i know the phenom II's are not quite bad, in fact i noticed lots of praises for their performance, so a 1250 $ AMD pc , and compare it to the 1250 intel would be awesome.
    Reply
  • sleepychink125
    they should just do whatever gives the best performance/price... people only care about how far their money will get them, not this AMD fanboy crap. If TH feels that a AMD chip will get them farther than an intel chip of the same price, then they should by all means go for it... if not, please stop complaining.
    Reply
  • sleepychink125
    btw, its not just these 2 above comments that bug me...its people like them spamming the boards EVERY SINGLE MONTH about AMD builds.
    Reply
  • gkay09
    sleepychink125btw, its not just these 2 above comments that bug me...its people like them spamming the boards EVERY SINGLE MONTH about AMD builds.Well tats such a dumb way of saying give me anything but don bother me wit many optons :P ...but people would really like to know more abt comparision rather than just sticking wit the options posted here...
    Reply
  • gkay09
    sleepychink125they should just do whatever gives the best performance/price... people only care about how far their money will get them, not this AMD fanboy crap. If TH feels that a AMD chip will get them farther than an intel chip of the same price, then they should by all means go for it... if not, please stop complaining.Well how would they knw if the options chose by them are the best unless they compare it wit the other options available...rather than jus posting the components they chose...mayb a more explained reason in comparision rather than jus a single component review would be gud...
    Reply
  • sleepychink125
    im sorry if i offended u... i just wanted to see some constructive conversation that i can learn from or join in, not just amd guys complaining.
    Reply
  • gkay09
    sleepychink125im sorry if i offended u... i just wanted to see some constructive conversation that i can learn from or join in, not just amd guys complaining.Lolz its nt jus that we are amd guys(I use a Core2 :P) Its jus that we want to see more competition come into play rather than jus stick to the Blue company...Its jus tat we want this competition to be alive so we gt better components...
    Reply
  • gkay09
    The Green company has come a far way...(from the Phenom I failure that is) there are many CPUs like the 7750, the new Phenoms, which can provide some competition (mayb nt beat the other)...

    The reason behind people posting request to see an AMD m/c is tat we cant buy all the components that are coming in the market and then sticking to the better ones...for which the THG come into play...they have the resources and manpower to do this and give the general public the pros and cons of the h/w out there...thus helping us...
    Reply