Crysis is a science fiction first person shooter
developed by Crytek. Crysis uses Microsoft's new API, DirectX 10 for graphics
rendering, and includes the new engine—the CryEngine 2—that is the successor to
Far Cry's CryEngine. CryEngine 2 is among the first engines to use the DirectX
10 framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX 9, both on Vista
and Windows XP.
Higher results are better. Cyrsis is
single-threaded.
 Crysis v1.2.1 No AA |
| 800x600 LQ Physics Very High (FPS) |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
107.32 |
   |
| Intel Core i5 750 |
104.21 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
98.59 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1100T |
83.15 |
   |
| AMD Phenom II X6 1090T |
86.53 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1075T |
83.53 |
|
 AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition |
96.75 |
   |
| AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition |
92.29 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition |
93.4 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 910e |
81.23 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 840 |
77.91 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition |
85.29 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 645 |
74.23 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 635 |
76.67 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 620 |
70.81 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X3 435 |
74.89 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X2 240e |
76.85 |
|
| 1024x768 LQ Physics Very High (FPS) |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
109.32 |
|
| Intel Core i5 750 |
106.22 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
97.25 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1100T |
88.16 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1090T |
85.6 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1075T |
83.32 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition |
96.7 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition |
91.69 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition |
93.37 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 910e |
81.61 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 840 |
77.39 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition |
88.88 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 645 |
74.05 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 635 |
75.69 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 620 |
70.51 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X3 435 |
74.28 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X2 240e |
76.86 |
| |
In gaming
tests like this you're best served with a faster videocard than anything
else!
Still,
it's interesting to see what, if any impact, the processor has on system
performance by dialing back game resolutions and image quality to the least
videocard-limiting factors. The AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition posts a
result of 96FPS with everything dialed back, and yet the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
manages 98FPS.
 Sierra FEAR 1.08 |
Source: Sierra |
|
FEAR is
Sierra's latest first person shooter which relies heavily on DirectX 9 features.
With its "Soft Shadows" feature enabled, even the fastest videocards run at a
crawl, FEAR is definitely the new benchmark for future FPS games to follow.
Higher
results are better. FEAR is single-threaded.
| Sierra FEAR 1.08 No AA |
| 640x480 LQ |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
648 |
|
| Intel Core i5 750 |
606 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
658 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1100T |
685 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1090T |
626 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1075T |
586 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition |
658 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition |
665 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition |
733 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 910e |
494 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 840 |
410 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition |
571 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 645 |
400 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 635 |
368 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 620 |
400 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X3 435 |
424 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X2 240e |
417 |
|
| 800x600 LQ |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
643 |
|
| Intel Core i5 750 |
597 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
650 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1100T |
674 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1090T |
624 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1075T |
591 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition |
652 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition |
654 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition |
723 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 910e |
491 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 840 |
407 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition |
565 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 645 |
389 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 635 |
363 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 620 |
391 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X3 435 |
415 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X2 240e |
411 |
|
| 1024x768 LQ |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
644 |
|
| Intel Core i5 750 |
593 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
645 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1100T |
660 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1090T |
622 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X6 1075T |
585 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition |
646 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition |
639 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition |
695 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 910e |
489 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 840 |
410 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition |
566 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 645 |
392 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 635 |
362 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X4 620 |
391 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X3 435 |
414 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X2 240e |
410 |
| |
Everything that was true about Crysis is doubly true for
FEAR. The quad-core 3.6GHz AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition does relatively
well, but no better than a dual core E8400 chip.
Now that
PCSTATS has wrapped up the last benchmark set, let's put everything into
perspective and consider whether the $195 AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition
processor is a good buy or not.
Perpetual CPU Envy vs. Value
for Performance
The
prevailing opinion is that multi-threaded processors are great when computers
are stressed by editing massive images in Photoshop, encoding full length movies
into iPod friendly resolutions, recording multi-channel audio in a home studio,
playing an intensive video game, watching Youtube, flipping through a 300 page
PDF or when doing ALL OF THIS, at once. It's 2011
after all, we expect our computers to ramp up without complaint and four or more
CPU cores just seems like the bare minimum to ensure that happens.
On the
question of processors, clock speed and core counts are useful indicators to a
degree, a minimum 6MB L3 Cache and 2.6GHz or higher frequency is a good place to
start. The cost of dual, triple, quad and six-core processors is really so
competitive that weighing the pro's and cons of multi-threaded application vs.
single threaded application CPU performance is largely moot.
The
performance differences do exist, don't get me wrong, but it's generally easier
to just aim for the highest amount of cores given the first two pre-requisites
of CPU cache and minimum clock speed are met. that brings us to the 3.6GHz AMD
Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition processor - currently the fastest quad-core chip
for the socket AM3 platform and quite affordable at the release price of just $195 CDN ($195 USD, £117 GBP).
In terms of performance the AMD Phenom
II X4 975 BE runs at mostly the same level as Intel's Core i5 750 CPU - both
processors winning a few benchmarks against the other. Intel's processors do
require a more substantial platform investment, while AMD continues to go to
great pains to keep its socket AM3 chips as cross platform friendly as possible.
This processor may be used on socket AM2+, AM3 and AM3+ motherboards for
example.
Overclocking is the name of the game with every Black Edition processor and the socket AM3 Phenom II
X4 975 Black Edition didn't disappoint! Using a mix of multiplier and bus speeds
PCSTATS was able to coax a speed 4.4GHz
from the Phenom II X4 97 Black Edition, an increase of 800MHz above its default
3.6GHz clock speed.
AMD's modest improvements to energy efficiency and
strict adherence to a $199 price cap make the AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition easy to recommend IF
you already own an AMD system and need a quick upgrade. A Phenom II X4 will
bring you better performance in massive parallel tasks like video creation or
ray tracing, in single threaded applications the 3.6GHz clock speed has its
advantages too.
Bottom line, if you're looking to assemble an entirely
new PC from the ground up, an Intel Core i5 and Core i7 computer will be a bit
more pricy to build than an AMD Phenom II X4 platform is likely to set you back.
That being said, Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture certainly has its benefits
(at the time of this writing we were not able to include Sandy Bridge results)
so invest a little time researching that processor too. Perpetual CPU envy will
continue to crop up every three months to convince you otherwise, but where
value for performance is considered the AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition has a
strong case to make.
Find out about this and many other reviews by joining the Weekly PCstats.com Newsletter today!
Catch all of PCSTATS latest reviews right here.
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