Crysis Warhead Hardware Performance Review

Ram and OS Comparison


Two is the new One, at least when discussing gaming PC's and their Ram. While we can no longer state "ram prices are at an all-time low" (they have been there for some time), the continuing affordability of DDR2 memory has helped make 2GB of RAM the standard, and as such that is where we will start. Crysis Warhead, having the same recommendations as the first, lists 1GB of RAM as necessary in Windows XP and 1.5GB of RAM in Windows Vista. We don't expect to see any adverse performance in our tests, but will there be improvements? The other question inquiring minds want to know is whether or not Vista is the evil monster that gobbles frames as fabled across internet forums. Our tests incorporate both DirectX9 and 10 results which will be expanded on further in the review.


Overall, the differences are minor. There are minute improvements going from 2GB to 4GB, but they are negligible at that. Windows XP does perform better than Vista but only by a fraction. Vista also gains the advantage of being able to use DirectX10, which does result in diminished framerates, but supposedly carries visual benefits.


Ram Usage

The following results were achieved by monitoring ram usage during the benchmarks, giving us some intriguing results. In our FPS test (shown above), the differences in framerates between 2GB and 4GB was minimal, but our usage charts show total system usage sitting at 2.35GB's in DX9 mode when using 4GB of ram. With only 2GB of ram, the total system usage drops to 1.9GB. Crysis Warhead still uses the same amount of memory - roughly 1.2GB - however, it is clear Vista holds some of your memory hostage when there is more physical memory available. Unfortunately, while 2GB will suffice, it does not leave a lot of wiggle room for programs to fight over resources. Users may find themselves experiencing slow downs if active processes exceed a very meager 800MB at system idle.


We see DirectX10 finally being put to good use and doing part of what was originally intended; optimizing game performance and better allocating resources. There is a clear and sharp decrease in ram usage in Warhead with DirectX10 enabled, but there are some drawbacks as we will demonstrate later in the review.