SiSoft SANDRA 2004 SP1 Performance

SiSoft SANDRA 2004 SP1 is the latest revision of this popular system benchmark, but it sticks to its roots and supplies a wide range of individual benchmarks and system utilities. These include processor, system, network, hard drive benchmarks and many other performance tests. The integer and floating-point memory bandwidth tests are the most popular section of the SiSoft SANDRA benchmark suite, and highlight the potential performance levels of the CPU-memory subsystem.

The same basic trend we witnessed in PCMark 2004 Memory benchmarking is played out in the SiSoft SANDRA 2004 SP1 memory tests as well. The dual vs. single-channel architectures really come into effect once again, and although the Celeron D 335 still can't match its 200 MHz Pentium 4 brethren, it makes short work of the AMD competition and really extends its lead over the Sempron 3100+. The AMD value CPU does place well against the Athlon 64 3400+, where the Sempron 3100+ at 2.15 GHz posts the highest AMD score.

The SiSoft SANDRA 2004 Floating Point Bandwidth scores display the same basic trends at the Integer results, and once again we see the less-than 200 MHz FSB of the Celeron D 335 (no PAT) hamper its overall performance scores.

TMPGEnc Plus MPEG-1 Encoding Performance

TMPGEnc Plus is an extremely popular MPEG encoder, and a program that not only offers real-world MPEG performance results, but includes a host of specialized CPU support options. The program supports virtually all CPU multimedia features such as MMX/MMX-2, SSE/SSE2, 3DNow!, and even Hyper-Threading.

For the following test, we've taken a high-end, 3-minute AVI file, and then encoded it to MPEG-1 using TMPGEnc Plus 2.5. The results are expressed in the form of time elapsed (minutes: seconds) and unlike our other benchmarks, a smaller bar denotes less time taken, and therefore higher performance.

The TMPGEnc Plus MPEG-1 performance scores show a flip-flop for the value processor comparison. At default speeds, the Sempron 3100+ posts a faster encoding time than the Celeron D 335, but once overclocking comes into play, the Celeron shows its Prescott roots and speeds ahead. The comparison scores are also quite good, with the Celeron D 335 surpassing the Pentium 4-3.0E, which is a bit surprising give the lack of HT support in the Celeron. The Sempron 3100+ also impressed, and moved past the Pentium 4 competition while coming very close to the Athlon 64 3400+.

TMPGEnc Plus MPEG-2 Encoding Performance

For the next test, we've taken the same high-end, 3-minute AVI file, and encoded it to MPEG-2 using TMPGEnc Plus 2.5. This is more stressful on the system than our previous MPEG-1 encoding, and is the standard for DVD authoring. The performance results are expressed in the form of time elapsed (minutes: seconds) and as with the MPEG-1 results, a smaller bar denotes less time taken, and therefore higher performance.

The increase in our TMPGEnc benchmark settings to basic MPEG-2 encoding doesn't really change the overall rankings that much, but it does show that the overclocked Celeron D 335 and Sempron 3100+ do have some power in reserve. These two value processors improve their ranking slightly, and post the two fastest scores of the bunch.