Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800
LAME MT and Sony Vegas
In our custom LAME MT MP3 encoding test, we convert a large WAV file to the MP3 format, which is a very popular scenario that many end users work with on a day-to-day basis to provide portability and storage of their digital audio content.
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In this test, we created our own 223MB WAV file (a never-ending Grateful Dead jam) and converted it to the MP3 format using the multi-thread capable LAME MT application in single and multi-thread modes. Processing times are recorded below. Once again, shorter times equate to better performance.
Although its clock speed is similar to the Core 2 Extreme X6800, the new QX6800 trailed the flagship dual-core processor by a couple of seconds in the multi-threaded portion of this test, which we should note run in only two threads maximum. In single threaded mode, the two chips performed identically, but in MT mode - likely due to contention for resources or Windows scheduling issues - the QX6800 falls slightly behind.
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Sony's Vegas DV editing software is heavily multithreaded as it processes and mixes both audio and video streams. This is a new breed of digital video editing software that takes full advantage of current dual and multi-core processor architectures.
The Core 2 Extreme QX6800 put up the best score in the Sony Vegas benchmark, outpacing the previous champion QX6700 by about 9 seconds. The pseudo quad-core Quad FX rigs put up a good fight here as well, but the Intel chips still held onto a sizable lead.
