[mythtv-users] AMD or Intel?

Brian Bartlow mythtv at roostervision.com
Sat Jan 15 22:13:30 EST 2005


Brad Templeton wrote:

>There is no cool-aid here.    AMD and Intel systems are different.
>AMD wins on certain problems, Intel wins on others.   AMD uses
>slower clocks, which means less heat, which is great on the broad set
>of problems where the AMD outperforms.    On some problems though,
>Intel's faster clock and faster FSB really do mean something.
>
>Video decoding and encoding appear to be one of the problems where
>Intel wins handily.
>
>My P4-3ghz system when playing HDTV runs at 60% idle.   When playing
>SDTV it runs at as much as 95% idle.   No xvmc.
>
>My Athlon XP-3000 system when playing HDTV runs at 25% idle but
>sometimes dips down close to zero.
>
>So if playing HDTV is your goal, there is not even any question about
>which of these two processors to get.   Indeed, though while I have
>not done it, you might even want to pick a slower Intel chip (say
>a 2.6hgz) over an AMD-3000 (2.1ghz)
>
>However, the AMD-3000 would outperform the Intel 2.6ghz in other
>applications, so if you want those, you might choose AMD.
>
>We await reports of the CPU utilization for folks on Athlon-64
>processors, in both 32 bit mode and 64 bit mode.   This is hard
>to predict.  The A64 uses an even _slower_ clock for the same
>"number."
>
>When it comes to mpeg, the size of your clock does matter.
>  
>
In fact, take a look at
http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041221/cpu_charts-18.html.

This is the results of the video encoding benchmarks.  This will give
you a good idea of how different processors measure up when it comes to
video applications.  Notice how Intel CPUs with similar numbers (i.e. P4
3 GHz compared to Athlon 3000+) perform better.

I just checked yesterday and the price for a P4E 3.0 GHz was roughly the
same as an Athlon 64 3200+ ($185 - $190).  And the Intel outperforms the
AMD on the MPEG-4 encoding benchmark by about 10%.

So I'm finding myself wishing I had purchased an Intel CPU for my HDTV
mythbox instead of my AMD.  Maybe I'll just have to get another system.  >:)

Brian



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