Intel Clarkdale Core i5 Desktop Processor Debuts

Name: Intel Clarkdale Core i5 Desktop Processor Debuts - Page 11
Brand: Intel

by Marco Chiappetta — Sunday, January 03, 2010, 12:01 AM EDT

For our next set of tests, we moved on to some in-game benchmarking with Crysis and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. When testing processors with Crysis or ET:QW, we drop the resolution to 800x600, and reduce all of the in-game graphical options to their minimum values to isolate CPU and memory performance as much as possible. However, the in-game effects, which control the level of detail for the games' physics engines and particle systems, are left at their maximum values, since these actually do place some load on the CPU rather than GPU.

Low-Resolution Gaming: Crysis and ET: Quake Wars

Taking the GPU out of the Equation--Somtimes

You'll notice, that even though the in-game graphics options are set to their minimums and the games are running at a low-resolution, the Intel HD Graphics processor incorporated onto the Core i5 661, and the AMD 785G for that matter, severely limits performance. When using a discreet graphics card, however, the Core i5 661 performs very well, hanging with or besting the Phenom II X4 and finishing about on par with the Core 2 Quad Q9650.

Tags: Intel, HD, graphics, GPU, CPU, 32nm, processor, Core i5

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com