For MP3 encoding we used LAME 3.9.7 encoder. This is a freeware encoder included in several commercial programs such as Nero. Since LAME is a command-line encoder, we used RazorLame 1.1.5a to have a graphical interface plus a way to measure the time the CPU took to convert an entire audio CD to MP3 format. The CD we chose was Only Dance: 1980-1984. Even though we like New Wave rock the reason we chose this CD in particular was because it has 20 songs for a total of exactly 75:28.40 minutes, i.e., it is a “full” CD. We extracted all audio files to the hard disk drive as Wav files and converted the files located on the hard disk drive and not on the CD, so the optical drive wouldn’t have any interference on the performance achieved.

The results you can find on the chart below and are on seconds, meaning the lower the value, the better.

On MP3 encoding Athlon 64 4600+, Pentium Dual Core E2180 and Celeron E1400 achieved the same performance level. The only significant performance difference was with Pentium Dual Core E2160, due to its lower clock rate, as you can see on the above chart. Pentium Dual Core E2180 was 9.93% faster, Athlon X2 4600+ was 8.90% faster and Celeron E1400 was 7.53% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2160.

Among the Intel CPUs that run at 2 GHz, the only significant difference was between Core 2 Duo E4400 and Celeron E1400, with E4400 being 3.33% faster than E1400.