Intel Core i7 "Nehalem" 920, 940 & 965 XE Processor Review

Crysis

Crysis v1.2
Graphic Settings: Medium Settings
Resolution: 800X600
Anti Aliasing: 0
Quality Settings: Medium
Global Settings: DX10 Enabled/ 64Bit Enabled

Test 1: Ice benchmark_CPU2 demo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)

Arguably the most hardware intensive game on the market today, Crysis has been chosen for its obvious ability to be able to showcase the differences between processors and to showcase just how far one will need to go in the quest for maximum performance. The game also features the renowned CryEngine, the power behind the incredible graphics, which is expected to be foundation of future titles.


Crysis is known as being particularly graphics-intensive, but it does feature a multi-threaded core. As a result, by reducing resolution and quality settings, we were able to showcase the multi-core advantage. However, once again, Core i7 processors do not really distinguish themselves from their quad-core Penryn predecessor. They are still very fast at gaming, but we aren't seeing the huge gains that were achieved in the productivity and multimedia applications.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2

Half-Life 2: Episode 2
Graphic Settings: High
Resolution: 1024x768
Filtering: Bilinear / 0AF
Visual Settings: High (All)
Test 1: HWC Custom Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)

Released years ago in 2004, the latest chapter in the Gordon Freeman story makes it to our list just because its so dang popular. With over a dozen titles spawned off the legendary Valve Source Engine, chances are one of the games you have played recently has been a part of the family, games such as Counter Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2 and Dark Messiah. While aging in relation to many of the other titles featured in reviews, we believe the games popularity will allow you to get an accurate idea of exactly what type of performance gains can be expected with the hardware in games you are sure to play.


The Core i7 processors once again put on a respectable showing, but it is clear that HL2:EP2 is partial towards the Penryn architecture's larger L2 cache. Even the popular 3.0Ghz E8400 is able to compete with the mid-range 2.93Ghz i7-940.