Quake 4 is the latest in 3D first-person shooters from id Software, and while the actual storyline is pretty standard fare and the game itself is based on the DOOM 3 engine, the graphics are exceptional and it is an improvement over previous games. The lighting and shadow effects are excellent, and the overall level design and architecture are a real treat. The overall load on the graphics card can be extreme, which is both a blessing and a curse, depending on the actual hardware you are testing.
* Please note we are working with the standard retail version, and have not updated it using the BETA dual core patch.
Quake 4 is based on the same engine as DOOM 3, and due to combination of enhanced NVIDIA drivers and limited game support, it also seems to reward the extra multithreading that HT support offers. The Pentium EE 955 manages to squeak by with the fastest score, outpacing the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ by a bit more than 1 fps. The Pentium D line simply cannot keep up, while the Pentium EE 840 HT shows a noticeable framerate gain, and places just below the Athlon 64 X2 group. Overall though, this is another very strong showing for the Pentium Extreme Edition 955.
Painkiller is another hotrod first-person shooter that features high-end game graphics, but the difference here is the use of a non-standard, proprietary game engine. So instead of the next revision of the latest DOOM, Quake or Unreal Tournament product, we get something slightly different that helps spice our benchmarks up a bit. Due to the video card reliance of some portions of the game, we have used the in-game Docks demo, which does show a performance impact based on the processor used.
After a brief foray into Pentium Extreme Edition 955 dominance, Painkiller brings us back to the standard trends. Here we find the Pentium EE 955 once again with the best Intel performance score, but the Athlon 64 X2 processors are simply too much. The Painkiller Docks test is an extremely tough one, and anything above 35 fps represents very high-end performance.
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is based on the movie franchise character of the same name, and provides a wild mix of kick-ass action and intriguing game environment. This hybrid game is similar to what Half-Life 2 brought to the table, as you take the role of escaped con Riddick, and fight your through some exceptionally rendered levels. This is another game we continue to experiment with, as increasing the Shader Model to over 2.0 can bring the game to a crawl, and even at our standard setting of Shader 2.0, it can still push a system to its limit.
Chronicles of Riddick does not show much change compared to the majority of game benchmarks. The Pentium Extreme Edition 955 is once again the performance champ among Intel processors, but just cannot keep pace with the Athlon 64 X2 models, falling behind even the Athlon 64 X2 3800+.
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