Is there a limit to how fast Lame can encode? Options

[gusmahler]

I briefly touched upon this on another thread, but thought it deserved it's own thread.

Is there a limit beyond which LAME cannot encode any faster? I use LAME 3.96.1 in conjunction with EAC. Using --alt-preset fast standard, my 1.7 GHz Centrino encodes at the same speed as my new 3.2 GHz P4.

If you look at Tom's Hardware (http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041221/cpu_charts-21.html), you'll see that encoding speed is not limited. Unfortunately, they don't say what settings are used in the test.

So is there some odd reason that I can't possibly fathom that explains why a 1.7 GHz Centrino is the same speed as a 3.2 GHz P4 when the P4 should be 30% or so faster.

And yes, I know the Centino is more efficient and runs faster than 1.7 GHz suggests. But every other benchmark I've run shows the P4 at least 30% faster. Why isn't it faster using LAME 3.96.1 --alt-preset fast standard?