X3:Terran Conflict

Publisher: EgoSoft

X3: Terran Conflict is the latest space-based trading and fighting game in the X3 series. It uses masses of polygons and geometry to create the complex ships and so is a very stressful test for a CPU.

Remember that it's the CPU that constructs the wire-frame models of game objects, before a GPU can apply texture and lighting.

To run the benchmark, first download the rolling demo and set the graphics options as below. Then remember to tick the 'Run as benchmark' box and hit go. We average the results of the four component tests to give a single minimum and average frame rate.



The geometry-heavy X3: Terran Conflict loves fast multi-core CPUs even more than Crysis with the frame rates rising in a satisfyingly linear fashion. The 975 EE is a touch faster than the 965 EE at stock and overclocked speeds by roughly 2fps in most cases. However, when overclocked, the 975 EE has an 8fps lead in average fame rate.

Again, see how close the AMD 955 BE is to the Core i7 920 - for most uses (all but the most heavily multi-threaded), the 955 BE is a good choice.