Crysis

Publisher: Electronic Arts

We patch Crysis to v1.21 and run it in 64-bit, DirectX 10 mode with Very High detail settings. We use a resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 with no AA and no AF, in order to provide a reasonably real-world test without the risk that the graphics card will be a limiting factor to CPU performance.

We use the Habour test in the Crysis benchmark tool to play back a section of night combat. We repeat this test three times, or until a reliable set of results is achieved. The consistent results are then averaged to give the figures below.

This is the best way to test how a CPU affects game performance, as the game will be generating AI, physics and game rules for the CPU to perform.

Civilization 5

Publisher: 2K Games

Civilization 5 is the latest in the long running Civ series of turn-based strategy games. While we usually expect FPS games to lead the technology front, Civ 5 incorporates many DirectX 11 features, including Tesselation and OpenCL.

We set the game to 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x MSAA and maxed out the in-game detail levels. Then we used the in-game 'Late Game Benchmark' and recorded the frame rate with FRAPS for 90 seconds at the same point in order to test how the game's AI and graphics affected the kit on test.


Read our performance analysis.