We’re concluding the tests of B850 motherboards with the MSI Tomahawk Max WiFi. In terms of price, it sits between the already tested B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7 and Asus ROG Strix B850-F Gaming WiFi, with its features leaning closer to the latter. In some aspects, it even surpasses it. The word “Max” in its name is well justified – three PCIe 5.0 slots, 5-gigabit Ethernet, more USB ports…
Audio encoding
Test environment: Audio encoding is done using command line encoders, we measure the time it takes for the conversion to finish. The same 42-minute long 16-bit WAV file (stereo) with 44.1 kHz is always used (Love Over Gold by Dire Straits album rip in a single audio file).
Encoder settings are selected to achieve maximum or near maximum compression. The bitrate is relatively high, with the exception of lossless FLAC of about 200 kb/s.
Note: These tests measure single-thread performance.
FLAC: reference encoder 1.3.2, 64-bit build. Launch options: flac.exe -s -8 -m -e -p -f
MP3: encoder lame3.100.1, 64-bit build (Intel 19 Compiler) from RareWares. Launch options: lame.exe -S -V 0 -q 0
AAC: uses Apple QuickTime libraries, invoked through the application from the command line, QAAC 2.72, 64-bit build, Intel 19 Compiler (does not require installation of the whole Apple package). Launch options: qaac64.exe -V 100 -s -q 2
Opus: reference encoder 1.3.1, Launch options: opusenc.exe –comp 10 –quiet –vbr –bitrate 192
