Data Compression and Audio Encoding
WinRAR 3.51
Our own custom WinRAR benchmark, this test takes a large 650 MB text file and compresses it with the highest compression option.
WinZIP 8.1
This test does basically the same thing in the World Bench suite but with WinZIP instead.
LAME MT MP3 Encoding
This custom test uses the LAME MT engine to benchmark encoding a 650 MB WAV file into a standard 128 kbps MP3 file. We used the Microsoft compiler for the most fair results.
(lower is better)
MusicMatch Jukebox 7.10
This World Bench test also encodes ripped WAV files into MP3 using the popular MusicMatch software.
Here we see more indication that the hard drives Alienware is using is likely the limiting factor in these benchmarks — making the Aurora fall behind. Interestingly, when looking at the MP3 encoding results, the Aurora 7500 is just as fast as the DIY system when multithreaded options are enabled.