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.



The Jetway again nudges slightly ahead of the Shuttle by a few seconds, but can't keep up with the full fat albeit inexpensive Sempron based system. The Jetway with its dual-core Atom N330 is about 13 to 16 percent faster than the single-core N230 here.

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.


Video encoding is still understandably slow, and although the Atom N330 combined with HyperThreading enables four virtual cores, the Jetway board is still 64.5 percent slower than the single-core Sempron here. It is however faster than the other Atom boards still by a minute (two percent) over the Shuttle or nearly three minutes (six percent) over the single core Atom.