Multitasking performance
Let's now turn our attention to multitasking, where more than one application is run at one time.| DivX 6.8.3 + LAME encoding, enhanced multithreading on | ||
|---|---|---|
| AMD Athlon X2 7750 BE | AMD Athlon X2 6000+ | Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 |
| 410 | 444 | 390 |
Here's the graph you've seen before, detailing the DivX-encoding results. Nothing new here.
| DivX encoding with QuickTime 1080p clip running | ||
|---|---|---|
| AMD Athlon X2 7750 BE | AMD Athlon X2 6000+ | Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 |
| 572 | 634 | 554 |
But now we've added a 1080p QuickTime clip into the fray, being rendered at the same time. What we're seeing here is how much the DivX encoding time is being compromised by the additional computational load presented by running the high-resolution clip on a looping basis.
Whilst the results are a little more variable than running standalone numbers, the Athlon X2 7750 and Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 both take an additional ~165s to complete the encoding, whilst the ageing X2 6000+ is hit by a ~190s penalty on top of its already-slow time. Overall then, the X2 7750 is over a minute faster than the X2 6000+ at encoding with a 1080p clip added for good measure, but still marginally slower than the E5200.
| DivX encoding with ETQW 1680x1050 High-quality running | ||
|---|---|---|
| AMD Athlon X2 7750 BE | AMD Athlon X2 6000+ | Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 |
| 682 | 732 | 662 |
Here's the same test but with the high-resolution Enemy Territory: Quake Wars running, looped, in the foreground.The DivX times go up to a greater degree this time, and all mid-range CPUs suffer to the same degree.
| ETQW 1680x1050 High-quality with DivX encoding running | ||
|---|---|---|
| AMD Athlon X2 7750 BE | AMD Athlon X2 6000+ | Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 |
| 35.12 | 39.83 | 42.93 |
The average FPS is down compared to standalone results, of course, but the reported score doesn't tell the whole story. We observed the Intel E5200's gaming performance, with DivX load in the background, to be quite slow and jerky. The Athlon X2 7750's average gaming frame-rate is significantly lower and we defined performance as slow and quite jerky. Interestingly, the X2 6000+'s frame-rate is higher, but gaming was slow and very jerky - sometimes averages don't tell the full story, and we reckon the X2 7750's extra L3 cache pays dividends here, keeping the game relatively smooth.
