The best way to measure performance is using real programs. The problem, though, is creating a methodology using real software that provides accurate results. For Photoshop CS2 there is a methodology created by the folks at DriverHeaven that is very accurate. Their script applies a series of 12 filters to a sample image and we write down the time taken to each filter to run. At the end we have the results for each individual filter and we simply add them up to have the total time taken to run the 12 filters from DriverHeaven batch. The results below are given in seconds, so the lower number the better.

In our Photoshop CS2 Core 2 Duo E8400 was the fastest CPU, mainly because of its higher clock rate. This CPU from Intel was 15.86% faster than Core 2 Quad Q6600, 32.40% faster than Phenom X4 9550 and 33.51% faster than Phenom X3 8750.

Core 2 Quad Q6600 was 19.65% faster than Phenom X4 9550 and 20.98% faster than Phenom X3 8750.