Vadim Cepheus Q80

Xvid Encoding:

We tested video encoding performance using VirtualDub-MPEG version 1.6.15 and a multithreaded version of the Xvid codec, along with the LAME MT MP3 encoder for encoding audio. We did a two-pass encode of a 15-minute 276MB digital TV recording with a target file size of 100MB.

Xvid encoding on the Vadim again obliterates the Alienware PC by a minute and a half. Usually we see a few seconds difference between PCs aimed at the same market, but the extra CPU speed and couple of cores really makes the difference. Of course, a potential buyer will have to justify the large increase in price for a 13.6% reduction in encoding time. However, we use a relatively small file in converting, so the time difference will be linearly increasing the bigger the file and more complex the codec (like h.264) used.

MP3 Encoding:

We used LAME MT for our audio encoding test - it's the multithreaded version of the popular LAME MP3 encoder. We ran tests with both Intel's and Microsoft's compilers - naturally, the Intel compiler resulted in some performance increases on Intel's processors. We converted all 18 tracks from Moby's popular Play album to a 192kbps variable bit-rate MP3.

MP3 encoding is faster than the Alienware, but decoding is a couple of seconds slower, but we're only talking about a half minute test scenario.