Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965: Not Just A Speed Bump
WME Multi-Tasking & LAME MT
We continued our testing with another Windows Media Encoder benchmark, but this test is very different from the one on the previous page. In this test, which is also part of the Worldbench 5.0 suite, a video is encoded using Windows Media Encoder, while an instance of the Mozilla browser is running and navigating through various cached pages. Because the system is multi-tasking with two different applications, this test is more taxing than the one on the previous page, hence the longer times reported below.
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Interestingly, the gap separating the Intel and AMD processors widens in the multi-tasking WME / Mozilla benchmark. The AMD systems held onto 185 second and 163 second advantages over the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 here, even though the Intel processor can technically process more simultaneous threads than AMD's dual-core CPUs.
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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. 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.
Things turned around for Intel in our custom LAME MT benchmark. In this test, the new Pentium Extreme Edition 965 posted the best times in both single-thread and multi-thread modes. In the single-threaded test, the 965XE outpaced the FX-60 by about 8 seconds, and in the multi-threaded test Intel's new flagship beat AMD's best by approximately 10 seconds.
