Intel Westmere 32nm Launch & Clarkdale Core i5-661 CPU Review

Gaming Benchmarks: Particle Simulation / Street Fighter 4

Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark

Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark
Default
Comparison: Particle Performance Metric

Originally intended to demonstrate new processing effects added to Half Life 2: Episode 2 and future projects, the particle benchmark condenses what can be found throughout HL2:EP2 and combines it all into one small but deadly package. This test does not symbolize the performance scale for just Episode Two exclusively, but also for many other games and applications that utilize multi-core processing and particle effects. As you will see the benchmark does not score in FPS but rather in its own "Particle Performance Metric", which is useful for direct CPU comparisons.


Clearly, game engines can be made to work very well on these dual-core/four-thread CPU design and this benchmark is one of example of this. We wouldn't have originally guessed that the i5-661 could outclass solid performers like the Q9550 and X4 945.

Street Fighter 4

Street Fighter 4 Demo
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti-Aliasing: 0X
Graphic Settings: High
Test 1: Built-in Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)

Street Fighter IV is a 2008 arcade game produced by famous developer Capcom, that has finally been released on the PC platform. This game has not been 'ported' since the Street Fighter IV arcade machines actually have PC internals, with circa 2005 components. As a result, the version of the game released on the PC is considered the definitive version. With fully multi-threaded engine and an astounding hybrid 2D/3D graphics style, this game is sure to please all fans of the Street Fighter series.


This is a good example of a game that is multi-threaded, but only up to 4 threads. As you can see, the i5-661 is doing a great job at mimicking at proper quad-core chip's performance in this benchmark.