Megatasking
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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 | Intel Core i7 920 | AMD Phenom II 920 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 | AMD Phenom X4 9950 BE | AMD Phenom II 940 BE |
| 304 | 215.2 | 275.64 | 283 | 330 | 259.92 |
Here's the graph you've seen before, detailing the DivX-encoding results. Nothing new here.
| DivX encoding with QuickTime 1080p clip running | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 | Intel Core i7 920 | AMD Phenom II 920 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 | AMD Phenom X4 9950 BE | AMD Phenom II 940 BE |
| 341 | 240.9 | 312.1 | 318 | 363 | 291 |
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.
All processors do well enough, we suppose, with perfectly smooth playback and reasonable DivX encoding times.
| DivX encoding with ETQW 1680x1050 High-quality running | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 | Intel Core i7 920 | AMD Phenom II 920 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 | AMD Phenom X4 9950 BE | AMD Phenom II 940 BE |
| 376 | 261 | 336.4 | 348 | 382 | 312.9 |
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, but the Phenom IIs do far better than the 9950 BE.
| ETQW 1680x1050 High-quality with DivX encoding running | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 | Intel Core i7 920 | AMD Phenom II 920 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 | AMD Phenom X4 9950 BE | AMD Phenom II 940 BE |
| 73.31 | 78.04 | 75.45 | 76.45 | 70.9 | 76.03 |
The average FPS is down compared to standalone results, of course, but there's hardly a meaningful drop for any processor, but we found that the Phenom scores, whilst impressive on the graph, were subject to some jerkiness that the trio of Intel CPUs managed to iron out.
