Avivo Video Converter performance
To compare the performance of AMD's Avivo Video Converter, we're pitting it against the tried-and-trusted VirtualDub - another freeware video processing utility.
Both will be fed our standard 1.2GB PAL DV video clip, the duration of which is 5mins and 51 seconds, and be asked to transcode to DivX at a resolution of 640x512 and bit-rate of 2949Kbps - matching that of the Avivo Video Converter's default setting.
| VirtualDub - PAL DV to DivX | ||
|---|---|---|
| Radeon HD 4870 1GB (QX9650) | Radeon HD 4670 512MB (E8500) | Radeon HD 4670 512MB (QX9650) |
| 89 | 90 | 86.33 |
Using VirtualDub, an application that isn't optimised for multiple processor cores, transcoding performance is near-identical across the board when taking into account testing variances. As expected, VirtualDub is unable to take advantage of the extra cores on the quad-core processor and QX9650 performance is therefore identical to the dual-core E8500.
A minute and a half to transcode a clip that's roughly six minutes in length is a little lengthy for systems as well equipped as these, so does the Stream-enabled Avivo Video Converter speed things up?
| Avivo Video Converter | ||
|---|---|---|
| Radeon HD 4870 1GB (QX9650) | Radeon HD 4670 512MB (E8500) | Radeon HD 4670 512MB (QX9650) |
| 30 | 47.67 | 32.67 |
The answer, unsurprisingly, is a resounding yes. As NVIDIA has shown on many occasions, GPU acceleration clearly has its benefits and, in the right scenario, the non-gaming performance boost can't be ignored.
AMD's Radeon HD 4870 1GB makes light work of the transcoding process, completing the task in just 30 seconds - almost a third of the time taken without Stream acceleration. Similarly, the Radeon HD 4670 is just a fraction behind when used with a quad-core processor. What's telling, though, is that the same Radeon HD 4670 teamed up with a dual-core CPU is some 15 seconds lower. The GPU, then, is offering a big helping hand, but the CPU still has an important part to play.
