The first diagram concerning CPU workload also shows clearly that both AMD's Duron and Intel's Celeron are more heavily loaded than the Athlon and Pentium III clocked at the same rate. This is due to the smaller size of the L2 cache in the CPU core of the processors which is especially important during MPEG-4 playback. The same results occur with MPEG-1 playback where Intel and AMD's less expensive processors (Celeron and Duron) show a higher workload.

This is what the CPU workload on a time scale looks like during playback of an MPEG-4 sequence. A Pentium III/600 was used here as a test platform. The peak workload was a full 93 percent!

CPU workload on a socket 7 system with an AMD K6-II/400: After starting the MPEG-4 video sequence playback, the CPU workload was at 100 percent and flicker-free video display can not be guaranteed.