Performance Benchmarks

We thought that we'd run the M1000 through a few performance tests, just to give some indication of how it can be used outside of the Media Center aspect. This is a very abbreviated set of benchmarks, as raw performance isn't likely to be the primary concern for consumers. We've included results from an Athlon 64 3000+ Venice system equipped with an X800 Pro for comparison - the same system (and results) from our Venice Overclocking article. (The results are those for the Mushkin Value RAM.) Obviously, the AMD system is going to be faster, and it targets a different market. It is included purely as a reference and you should not conclude that the M1000 is "too slow". Noise levels and temperatures certainly favor the M1000, after all.

Gaming Performance - Futuremark

Gaming Performance - Futuremark

Gaming Performance - Futuremark

Gaming Performance - Futuremark

System Performance - Futuremark

System Performance - Futuremark

System Performance - WinStones 2004

System Performance - WinStones 2004

Encoding Performance - AutoGK 1.96

Encoding Performance - AutoGK 1.96

Encoding Performance - AutoGK 1.96

Encoding Performance - AutoGK 1.96

Performance in business tasks is more than sufficient, even though the 3000+ still easily beats the M1000. We didn't run any actual games, but the Futuremark results should give you a good idea of what to expect. Obviously, the 6600 LE isn't going to compete with any real gaming setup in frame rates. In encoding tests, the margin of victory ranges from 12 to 18% for the Athlon 64. While that is a noticeable difference, Windows Media Center Edition doesn't use DivX, Xvid, or any other MPEG-4 type encoding by default, so unless you plan on doing your own work outside of the standard MCE interface, the M1000 will be more than sufficient.

Using the System Noise and Power Benchmarks
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  • glennpratt - Monday, October 17, 2005 - link

    Coming back from S3 on a modern computer is very fast. Plenty fast for most people on XP (I'll have to time my MCE machine which is an old AXP 1700+) and the Media Center remote will wake the computer from S3 (along with the keyboard I presume). It can also wake from S3 to record and Wake On LAN for the MCE Extenders.
  • anandtechrocks - Monday, October 17, 2005 - link

    Thanks for the great read. I've been interested in building my own HTPC and this article was exactly what I needed. I have an old P4 2.26 (Northwood) I want to use, but maybe I'll hold off until this area becomes more mature.

    Thanks Anand.
  • anandtechrocks - Monday, October 17, 2005 - link

    Well... actually, thanks Jarred Walton. My bad, it's really early here.
  • JarredWalton - Monday, October 17, 2005 - link

    You should be in bed (as should I!). 5:30 AM PST is far too late... or early, depending on whether you've been to sleep or not. Anyway, thanks. I can't begin to convey how frustrated I am with the lack of HDTV tuners for PCs. This article allowed me to sort of discuss the topic, but I've been wanting to build a nice HDTV capable PC for a while now - that's HDTV with cablecard or something similar, as terretrial HDTV doesn't work for me.
  • JarredWalton - Monday, October 17, 2005 - link

    FWIW, I *love* hooking up a PC to my HDTV. TV-Out from PCs is just aweful in comparison, and suddenly HDTV makes it not just feasible but enjoyable to use a PC to play games, DVDs, movies, etc. from your couch on a large display. That's a topic for another article, though.

    It's bed time now. We'll see what people have to say once more people are awake and have time to digest this piece. Opinions expressed in the article may not reflect the opinions of other AnandTech members. :)

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