X-bit labs

Choosing a Budget CPU: 24 Value Processors from Intel and AMD in Our Lab (page 9)

Category: CPU

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 05/15/2004 | 12:44 PM ]

Data Compression, Audio and Video Encoding

As you see, the CPU-memory bandwidth is important for the speed of compression in WinRAR. Anyway, the Athlon XP with the 266MHz bus outperforms all Celerons and the Pentium 4 1.8A. On the other hand, the Pentium 4 2.4GHz models with the 533 and 800MHz FSB are perceptibly faster in WinRAR than the Athlon XP family.

It’s a bit surprising to see the results of the test for encoding MP3 files with the LAME codec. Firstly, we see the top-end Celeron models outperforming the 2.4GHz Pentium 4s. Secondly, the Celeron 2.8GHz for example feels so strong here as to run faster than the Athlon XP 2500+. Well, that’s not a great deal, considering that the Celeron 2.8GHz costs you $120 and the Athlon XP 2500+ costs $80. Anyway, this result is impressive if we recall the performance of the Celerons in other tests.

Again, the Celerons are much more appealing than in games, for example. Anyway, you shouldn’t compare them to Athlon XP models of the same price – the Athlons are preferable. Note also the low speed of the Pentium 4 2.4B – the 2.6GHz Celeron leaves it behind!

The test for encoding video into the MPEG-4 format gives you practically the same picture.