Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 CPU Review
LAME MT & Kribibench
In our custom LAME MT MP3 encoding test, we convert a large WAV file to the MP3 format, which is a popular scenario that many end users work with on a day-to-day basis to provide portability and storage of their digital audio content. LAME is an open-source mid to high bit-rate and VBR (variable bit rate) MP3 audio encoder that is used widely around the world in a multitude of third party applications.
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In this test, we created our own 223MB WAV file (a hallucinogenically-induced 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, listed in seconds. In this test, shorter times equate to better performance.
A quick look at the results show the benchmark's limitation on the number of threads it uses. At 3.0GHz, the dual-core E6850 posted the fastest times in both single and multi threaded tests. The Q8400 and Q9400 finished with identical times.
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For this next batch of tests, we ran Kribibench v1.1, a 3D rendering benchmark produced by the folks at Adept Development. Kribibench is an SSE aware software renderer in which a 3D model is rendered and animated by the host CPU and the average frame rate is reported. We used two of the included models with this benchmark: a "Sponge Explode" model consisting of over 19.2 million polygons and the test suite's "Ultra" model that is comprised of over 16 billion polys.
Unlike LAME MT, Kribibench made use of the Q9400's extra cache as it showed an improvement in performance over the Q8400. The two AMD quads also did a better than the Q8400 by a small margin.
