WMP and Athlon XP

I read somewhere that to take full advantage of Athlon XP when using WMP I need to dowload a patch to make it recognize the SSE instructions. I don't remember if I read it here, or in one of my magazines or maybe online (too much information in my head, so it stays little time) The point is that I don't remember which patch or version it is. I looked in the WMP web site and I couldn't find anything about it. I am using Win XP and Win98SE so I have 2 versions of WMP
If someone can throw me a line I would be very appreciated:p

Hey Dehcbad,
I think what you read was : http://athlonxp.amd.com/benchmarks/o...gDDRMemory.jsp

which shows that the patch is for "Windows Media Encoder" which is used to encode files into .wma format..
so if you don't use that, you don't need a patch :cool:

well, it wasn't exactly that article, but it is related to that, where a patch in WMP can make it perform better when using an Athlon XP. For what it says, the patch is not available for public, but I was almost sure it was. I think I read from PCworld or Maximun PC, or CPU magazines, and it was more related to the point that WMP check for the processor type, and when it reads AMD it dissables SSE instructions, though Athlon XP does support SSE instructions. That was more detailed what I read. About WMP supporting 3Dnow! I had no idea, but I know it support SSE when using Intel PIII or P4 but not with Athlon XP unless added this patch

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Dehcbad25
well, it wasn't exactly that article, but it is related to that, where a patch in WMP can make it perform better when using an Athlon XP. For what it says, the patch is not available for public, but I was almost sure it was. I think I read from PCworld or Maximun PC, or CPU magazines, and it was more related to the point that WMP check for the processor type, and when it reads AMD it dissables SSE instructions, though Athlon XP does support SSE instructions. That was more detailed what I read. About WMP supporting 3Dnow! I had no idea, but I know it support SSE when using Intel PIII or P4 but not with Athlon XP unless added this patch

---

Hmm, well Dehcbad, i am sorry to say i have no clue on that, then... Because WMP is just a regular video and music app, i don't think it would effect it so much if you used the patch or not.. I mean if it was a patch for a serious thing, like say windows, then i would worry about it.. But since it is for WMP, no need to worry bro.. Also if there was any kind of patch similar to this, i am almost sure that Microsoft would put it on Windows Update for the ones who have the AthlonXP processor ;)

Blackwar

hi:
(my opinion only)

amd is only for games
its hardcore graphics intense cpu

if you want pro applications to work without crashing

in-tel

video, pro audio, graphic design
intel optimized

amd
state of the art game fps gaming companies
amd 3dnow

egghead




my amd works for games

my intel pulls the 9 yards


stay away from via chipsets
bsod in windows

constant patches

DEHC,
Blackwar is leading you down the right path Bro. That patch is for the windows Media Encoder to allow it to take advantage of the SSE:

Quote:

---

So how do you make WME7 detect the Athlon XP as a SSE enabled processor? The solution is actually quite simple; If you run a profile on Windows Media Encoder during an encoding task you'll quickly come to realize that most of the work is being done in a library located in the \Windows\System32\ directory called 'wmvdmoe.dll'. This is the encoding library used by WME hence a great portion of the encoding process is spent dealing with this file. By modifying this file you can set what manufacturer string to look for in order to enable SSE. In order to accomplish the goal of enabling SSE on the Athlon XP you'd want to look for 'AuthenticAMD' instead of 'GenuineIntel'. Those that have experience with editing dlls will find that this workaround is quite easy to implement; for everyone else, AMD has released a patch that will do this for you and even make a backup copy of the old wmvdmoe.dll file for you to compare to.

---

http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1543&p=5

ABOVE IS A LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE
IF you read that thoroughly, I am sure you will understand that this is just a mix up on the part of the magazine article that you read, as far as I understand.

I searched about 200 webpages for anything dealing with an SSE patch for WMP and an athlon XP CPU, and nothing came up...
Other than the windows Media encoder patch,
BB

Uppss. Blackwar, you are right. It just got me lost the talking about 3D Now! pro, yes the issue is the Media encoder. I used to know a lot about different features in the Intel and AMD CPUs, but it got so confusing lately, that it is hard to keep up.
I take it as 3D Now! Pro includes support for SSE and it is not a separated support. That aside I will clarify about WME
In WMP 8 included with XP, the fix is already included.
Now, for the version 7 which is the latest available for other OS, I couldn't find the fix, if someone can find it please let me know. Of course, I haven't done an extensive search, I just went to WMP web site. Maybe I have already downloaded and I don't know about it :D
that is as far as my little research reached
Now, egghead
The Via chipset is among the best performers. It might have a lot of patches, but a patch is what usually allow you to extract more juice from the same component. If you don't like patchs, you are still running DOS 3.0 (this is an example, don't tak it personally) since Windows versions up to ME where like upgrading coming from the DOS. All programs need upgrading and patches. I prefer a company that is going to work and give me patches so I can have a better value for what I own, that to a company that won't improve my product, but release one better. I don't like much to keep buying stuff, but I am OK with patching it up and make it better.
Of course this is just my ideas.
About AMD and Intel, if I compare an PIII with an Athlon Thunderbird, I will always prefer the Athlon T because it is cheaper for a similar performance.
With P4 is another deal, it is an extremely powerful architecture, but is too much for todays app. so I prefer to invest in an Athlon XP and get the same performance. For P4 to be that worth it needs to be paired with Good motherboards (which are expensive) and unless you are getting an Intel Chipset that supports DDR, it makes more sense RDRAM (more money) At the end you spent a lot of money for some extra performance, which will be surpased in a month. Anywat, lots of investment in a PC is not worth it either because the Desing is changing a lot (AGP 8x, 3GIO, 64 memory bus, ATA/133) So I prefer to spend medium range money and update my PC in a year, than spend a lot of money right now.
P4 could performance much better, but it requires too much money that the average user is not willing to spend.
And I really don't think it is not a good judgment to sompare by brands. It is better to comapre by models
Well, sorry if I wrote to much, but sometime I get bitten by the writter bug (I just wish sometimes it were a radiactive spider) :D

Well Dehcbad, im sorry to say you can't find the patch for Windows Media encoder yet because it is not released publicly. The only way you could get it is if it was leaked which i don't think it is because i couldn't find it..
the proof that it is not publicly available is here :
http://blackwar2.netfirms.com/amdwmencoder.jpg

Hope that helps,
Blackwar

Yeap I know. I read exactly the same at the AMD web page you linked, so I will keep using WMP under XP, though right now it produces the same performance with only 128MB RAM.;)