Xvid Encoding:

We tested video encoding performance using VirtualDub-MPEG version 1.6.15 and a multi-threaded 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.


The performance during an Xvid encode is usually heavily memory bandwidth dependent, however the Gigabyte boards offer up a consistently fast result and hold their own against the other boards. The DDR3 X38T-DQ6 is several seconds quicker than the DDR2 boards, but there's really not much to call between them. Again, Abit IP35-Pro has the CrossFire performance hooked up nicely in a consistently super-fast result that stands out from the rest of the field.

MP3 Encoding:

We used LAME MT for our audio encoding test - it's the multi-threaded 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.



Gigabyte seems to be doing something right with MP3 encoding though, performing 20 to 30 seconds faster than the Asus and Abit boards (except for when the Abit uses multi-GPU, again). This is somewhat anomalous considering the small file compression result - so we double checked that the files were correct and the encoding was accurate, which it was, so it is a genuine result.

MP3 Decoding

In decoding again both the Gigabyte boards are several seconds faster then the Asus and Abit boards, even in such a short test. Obviously if you're heavily into your audio encoding, Gigabyte seems to be the way to go.