AMD Athlon II X4 Debut: Enter The $99 Quad-Core

AMD Athlon II X4 Debut: Enter The $99 Quad-Core 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.

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. Once again, shorter times equate to better performance.

In the LAME MT test, all three of the AMD processors tested fall behind the Core 2 Quad. However, the Athlon II X4 remain competitive and they even manage to post better scores than the Phenom II X3.

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.

Kribibench provides some interesting results. The two quad Athlon II X4 processors mop the floor with the more expensive Phenom II X3, thanks to the extra core. Unlike LAME MT which only uses up to two cores, Kribibench can utilize all the cores available, hence the advantage the Athlon quads have.

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