Tech
Pentium 4 v Athlon XP: encoding performance
MP3 encodingIntel’s intensive efforts to get software producers to optimise their program code for modern processors -- Intel CPUs, naturally -- bear ever more fruit. The MP3 encoder MusicMatch Jukebox has been optimised in version 7.
![zd-defaultauthor-kai-schmerer.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/3ee36fc7c9c997c5301bb60421a277bae0104c10/2014/12/04/8fd7a393-7b6a-11e4-9a74-d4ae52e95e57/zd-defaultauthor-kai-schmerer.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
MP3 encoding
Intel’s intensive efforts to get software producers to optimise their program code for modern processors -- Intel CPUs, naturally -- bear ever more fruit. The MP3 encoder MusicMatch Jukebox has been optimised in version 7.0 for Intel’s Pentium 4, allowing the new 2,533MHz Pentium 4 to just beat the Athlon XP/2100+.
![](/i/story/20/40/000362/p4-ath-mmjb.gif)
![](/i/story/20/40/000362/p4-ath-mmjb.gif)
With a 46.5 percent performance difference between the Pentium 4/2533 (fastest) and the Pentium 4/2000 (slowest), using a fast chip in this area is well worthwhile.
Video Encoding
The new 533MHz-bus Pentium 4 processors are also faster than the Athlon XP/2100+ at video encoding using the popular MPEG Encoder 3.5 from LSX. However, a Pentium 4/2400 based on a 400MHz FSB is slightly slower than the fastest AMD processor.
![](/i/story/20/40/000362/p4-ath-lsx.gif)
![](/i/story/20/40/000362/p4-ath-lsx.gif)
Comparing the time taken to produce a DivX video using Xmpeg 4.5 results in a clear win for the Pentium 4. The Athlon XP/2100+ needs 23 seconds longer and is therefore a good 12 percent slower than the Pentium 4/2533.
![](/i/story/20/40/000362/p4-ath-xmp.gif)
![](/i/story/20/40/000362/p4-ath-xmp.gif)