I would like to know what the performance difference is between

1. using multiple sprites in one file (sprite sheets) to draw a game-character being able to face in 4 directions and

2. using one sprite per file but rotating that character to my needs.

I am aware that the sprite sheet method restricts the character to only be able to look into predefined directions, whereas the rotation method would give the character the freedom of "looking everywhere".

Here's an example of what I am doing:

1. Single Sprite Method

   Assuming I have a 64x64 texture that points north.

   So I do the following if I wanted it to point east:

   spriteBatch.Draw(
       _sampleTexture,
       new Rectangle(200, 100, 64, 64),
       null,
       Color.White,
       (float)(Math.PI / 2),
       Vector2.Zero,
       SpriteEffects.None,
       0);
   

2. Multiple Sprite Method

   Now I got a sprite sheet (128x128) where the top-left 64x64 section contains a sprite pointing north, top-right 64x64 section points east, and so forth.

   And to make it point east, i do the following:

   spriteBatch.Draw(
       _sampleSpritesheet,
       new Rectangle(400, 100, 64, 64),
       new Rectangle(64, 0, 64, 64),
       Color.White);
   

So which of these methods is using less CPU-time and what are the pro's and con's?

Is .NET/XNA optimizing this in any way (e.g. it notices that the same call was done last frame and then just uses an already rendered/rotated image thats still in memory)?