Intel Clarkdale Core i5 Desktop Processor Debuts

For our next set of tests, we moved on to some in-game tests with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars running in its High Quality mode, at a resolution of 1280x1024. Then we move on to some multi-media tests using a handful of videos, encoded using MPEG 2 or H.264 to see how the Intel HD Graphics core handles the workload.

Although we wouldn't exactly call the 20.7 frames per second put up by the Intel HD Graphics core found on the Core i5 661 playable, the framerate was high enough to pull ahead of the 785G. With a reduction in image quality, older games like this should be playable on Intel HD Graphics. And casual games, like those splattered all over Facebook, will have no problem running either.

"RAD" MPEG SD Video, Windows Media Player


"Max Payne" H.264 HD Video, Windows Media Player


"Casino Royale" H.264 Blu-Ray HD Rip, Power DVD 9 

Intel obviously put a significant amount of effort into the Intel HD Graphics core's multi-media capabilities. As you can see in the screenshots above, with all of the different video types, the load being placed on the Core i5 661 CPU is nice and low, ranging from single-digit percentages on up to about 35%. We also tested DVD playback, M4V files, and a myriad of other file types and all of them played very well on the Intel HD Graphics core.