x264 HD Video Encoding Performance

Graysky's x264 HD test uses x264 to encode a 4Mbps 720p MPEG-2 source. The focus here is on quality rather than speed, thus the benchmark uses a 2-pass encode and reports the average frame rate in each pass.

 

x264 HD Encode Test - 1st Pass - x264 0.59.819

Video encoding and other thread heavy tasks are best suited for AMD's more-is-better core strategy. You get six cores on the 1100T and three with the 455, in both cases the competing Intel part doesn't stand a chance. In the second encoding pass the Athlon II X3 is over 30% faster than the Pentium G6950. Without unlocking additional cores, the Phenom II X2 565 BE doesn't impress here.

x264 HD Encode Test - 2nd Pass - x264 0.59.819

PAR2 Multithreaded Archive Recovery Performance

Par2 is an application used for reconstructing downloaded archives. It can generate parity data from a given archive and later use it to recover the archive

Chuchusoft took the source code of par2cmdline 0.4 and parallelized it using Intel’s Threading Building Blocks 2.1. The result is a version of par2cmdline that can spawn multiple threads to repair par2 archives. For this test we took a 708MB archive, corrupted nearly 60MB of it, and used the multithreaded par2cmdline to recover it. The scores reported are the repair and recover time in seconds.

Par2 - Multithreaded Par2cmdline 0.4

The Phenom II X6 is competitive in our Par2 test, the Athlon II X3 455 is significantly faster than the Pentium G6950 and the Phenom II X2 565 falls short of its target. Rinse and repeat.

7-Zip Benchmark Performance

Included in 7-zip is a pure algorithm test that completely removes IO from the equation. This test scales with core count and as a result we get a good theoretical picture of how these chips perform. Note that the actual 7-zip compression/decompression process is limited to 2 threads so there's no real world advantage to having more cores.

7-Zip Benchmark

3D Rendering Performance Gaming Performance
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  • 8steve8 - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    kind of surprised sandy bridge wasn't even mentioned in the conclusions...

    considering these cpus will only be competing with the westmeres for less than a month before sandy bridge is everywhere...

    AMD seems to only be able to compete on price, kind of sad.

    It'll likely not change as long as Intel is >18 months ahead in terms of process technology used in fabrication.
  • Calin - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    This opens the door for another article comparing the Sandy Bridge processors (when they will be available) to the current (for now) offerings. I'm too waiting for the Sandy Bridge launch (but I probably won't buy one)
  • semo - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    Intel is still selling C2Ds. What makes you think SB will be everywhere any time soon? Intel are always slow with their new releases (not easy supplying the whole globe I would think).
  • vol7ron - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    Doesn't the US come first?
  • Einy0 - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    Think again... Almost all tech companies release products in Asia first.
  • SandmanWN - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    Errr "leaked" their first.
  • misfit410 - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    I think there is more to it than just price, Intels issue is how fragmented it's market is right now, I like to start with a cheap build, mid range CPU and know I have upgrade options, if I did an AMD Dual Core right now I know that I can go to a 6 Core later for some great performance when it's economically possible.

    If I go i3, I have very few upgrade options, need a new motherboard for i5, then If I want to move up from there yet another motherboard for i7..

    I personally think this was the worst way to go about covering all areas of the market.
  • BSMonitor - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    Except if you went Lynnfield right now, you would already be ahead of AMD's fastest 6-core offering. And much cheaper than buying a $100 processor now, with another $200 processor later.

    And to the other guy, Intel ramps slowly? Uhhh, not really. Core i7 has been around for 2 years now. In its many flavors. The reason Core 2 Duo still sells... It is actually MUCH faster than that Athlon II x3 Anand just tested.
  • silverblue - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    LOL... no it's not. I really don't know where you got that from.
  • Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - link

    Intel E7500, still selling on newegg for $125. AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition is currently $99 yet wins 17 out of 26 tests on anand's own bench, and is about 5% faster overall. So for 20% less you get faster performance, plus the opportunity to unlock a free bonus. But you can bet the intel part still sells 5 times more.

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