Introduction
You can have all the computing power in the world and it won't make a difference unless you have the software to support it.
Quad cores right now are the leading CPU's that are only just getting supported more and more. 6 core processors are just around the corner and yes they are cool, but I see no point in them.
Please enjoy these results.
Test System
AMD Phenom II 550 Black 3.8Ghz (as both dual and quad)
3x 2gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3 at 1600Mhz 9-9-9-24
ATI Radeon 4870x2 (Stock)
MSI 790FX-GD70
Western Digital Caviar Black 500gb
Games
Batman Arkham Asylum
Battlefield Bad Company 2 BETA
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
Crysis
Far Cry 2
Stalker: Call of Pripyat
Graphed Results

See below for a more in depth analysis
Batman Arkham Asylum
I love it when games have their own benchmark.
It is much more accurate when comparing test results but, I don't get to do anything but sit there and watch. Which is never fun.
1920x1080 0xAA Highest Detail
Dual Core

Quad Core

As you can see, there was a good little boost of fps when running it as a quad core.
This gives me the impression that the game is very well multi threaded meaning, it took advantage of the quad core and also the dual core.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Battlefield Bad Company 2 BETA
This was just released a few days ago and dispite some server issues, has been filled with players non stop.
This game takes after Bad Company that was a console game which was very successful.
To get these results I ran a good 30 minute game online. I wanted to get a long game in to insure a good average fps. I used FRAPS to record my results.
Tests run in 1920x1080 4xAA HBAO OFF VSync OFF
Dual Core

Quad Core

Well thats a 2:1 performance ratio. Something tells me this game supports quad cores.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
I figured I would test out a nice console port here. But, the console port did receive a nice little boost in FPS from a quad.
To gather these results I ran the first mission of the game and recorded my FPS with FRAPS. I tried to do the same thing over again so I could get a solid result.
Game was run in 1920x1080 with 2x AA on the highest texture settings.
Dual Core

Quad Core

What these results tell me is that Modern Warfare 2 is not hard to run at all.
If it is multi threaded, the quad core only gave a little performance boost because this game doesn't use a lot of CPU power.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Crysis
The most popular game fps comparison thingy on the interwebz. This game is a few years old but still holds the, "you need a helluva system" status.
It would be easier to run if you could use all 4 cores.
1920x1080 4xAA Very High DX10
Dual Core

Quad Core

I was under the impression that Crysis supported quads. I am wrong a lot.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Quad Core

They made this game super hard on the GPU. It is a very good stress tester because of this.
I think it could have been a much more enjoyable game if they would have spread out the tasks to the cpu.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stalker: Call of Pripyat
Nope, no snazzy title color.
I like this game for benchmarking purposes. It has a very good (15 minute long) benchmark and is great for comparison testing. Too bad it got a lower fps as a quad.
To get these results I averaged all 4 of the tests that the CoP benchmark runs.
Dual Core

Quad Core

Not much to say after that. It isn't multi threaded. Blah.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Final Thoughts
I think it is about that time to get a quad core. I would like to add more games to this review and I will do upon request/I buy a game.
Bioshock 2 will be getting up here when it comes out, also Mass Effect 2 should be up here in a couple days.
I hope you guys enjoyed this thread because damn it took a while.
Contagion out.
You can have all the computing power in the world and it won't make a difference unless you have the software to support it.
Quad cores right now are the leading CPU's that are only just getting supported more and more. 6 core processors are just around the corner and yes they are cool, but I see no point in them.
Please enjoy these results.
Test System
AMD Phenom II 550 Black 3.8Ghz (as both dual and quad)
3x 2gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3 at 1600Mhz 9-9-9-24
ATI Radeon 4870x2 (Stock)
MSI 790FX-GD70
Western Digital Caviar Black 500gb
Games
Batman Arkham Asylum
Battlefield Bad Company 2 BETA
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
Crysis
Far Cry 2
Stalker: Call of Pripyat
Graphed Results

See below for a more in depth analysis
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Batman Arkham Asylum
I love it when games have their own benchmark.
It is much more accurate when comparing test results but, I don't get to do anything but sit there and watch. Which is never fun.
1920x1080 0xAA Highest Detail
Dual Core

Quad Core

As you can see, there was a good little boost of fps when running it as a quad core.
This gives me the impression that the game is very well multi threaded meaning, it took advantage of the quad core and also the dual core.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Battlefield Bad Company 2 BETA
This was just released a few days ago and dispite some server issues, has been filled with players non stop.
This game takes after Bad Company that was a console game which was very successful.
To get these results I ran a good 30 minute game online. I wanted to get a long game in to insure a good average fps. I used FRAPS to record my results.
Tests run in 1920x1080 4xAA HBAO OFF VSync OFF
Dual Core

Quad Core

Well thats a 2:1 performance ratio. Something tells me this game supports quad cores.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
I figured I would test out a nice console port here. But, the console port did receive a nice little boost in FPS from a quad.
To gather these results I ran the first mission of the game and recorded my FPS with FRAPS. I tried to do the same thing over again so I could get a solid result.
Game was run in 1920x1080 with 2x AA on the highest texture settings.
Dual Core

Quad Core

What these results tell me is that Modern Warfare 2 is not hard to run at all.
If it is multi threaded, the quad core only gave a little performance boost because this game doesn't use a lot of CPU power.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Crysis
The most popular game fps comparison thingy on the interwebz. This game is a few years old but still holds the, "you need a helluva system" status.
It would be easier to run if you could use all 4 cores.
1920x1080 4xAA Very High DX10
Dual Core

Quad Core

I was under the impression that Crysis supported quads. I am wrong a lot.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 was released a good while ago.
It is a particularly difficult game to run which is one of the reasons I use it in a lot of my tests.
Maybe it is hard to run because the Dev's didn't give it quad core support....
Dual Core
Far Cry 2 was released a good while ago.
It is a particularly difficult game to run which is one of the reasons I use it in a lot of my tests.
Maybe it is hard to run because the Dev's didn't give it quad core support....
Dual Core

Quad Core

They made this game super hard on the GPU. It is a very good stress tester because of this.
I think it could have been a much more enjoyable game if they would have spread out the tasks to the cpu.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stalker: Call of Pripyat
Nope, no snazzy title color.
I like this game for benchmarking purposes. It has a very good (15 minute long) benchmark and is great for comparison testing. Too bad it got a lower fps as a quad.
To get these results I averaged all 4 of the tests that the CoP benchmark runs.
Dual Core

Quad Core

Not much to say after that. It isn't multi threaded. Blah.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Final Thoughts
I think it is about that time to get a quad core. I would like to add more games to this review and I will do upon request/I buy a game.
Bioshock 2 will be getting up here when it comes out, also Mass Effect 2 should be up here in a couple days.
I hope you guys enjoyed this thread because damn it took a while.
Contagion out.
Edited by Contagion - 1/31/10 at 3:15pm













