Intel Core i7 Processors: Nehalem and X58 Have Arrived

For our next set of tests, we moved on to some in-game benchmarking with Crysis and F.E.A.R. When testing processors with Crysis or F.E.A.R., 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.

The low-resolution Crysis and F.E.A.R. benchmarks tell somewhat different stories.  In Crysis, all of the Core i7-based systems finished ahead of the competition, regardless of clock speed.  And the ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard in particular put up some strong numbers.  In F.E.A.R., however, the Core 2 Extreme QX9770 finished strong, besting the Core i7 processors that were running in the Intel DX58SO motherboard.  But in the more enthusiast-friendly ASUS and Gigabyte boards the Core i7 Extreme 965 comes out on top.  It appears Intel still has some motherboard tuning to do with the DX58SO according to these results.