Eagle Lock On
Lock On is an extremely cpu/video-intensive game that renders sky, ground, trees, buildings, aircraft, as well as taking care of all real-time effects and flying characteristics. TWL chose to run the F15-Extreme Demo included with the game and record fps using FRAPS. Results below:
Click on each thumbnail for a larger image which shows frame rate and details.
Wolfenstein- Enemy Territory
This game provides a good example of an average 3D game play.
Click on each thumbnail for a larger image which shows frame rate and details.
Gaming performance was excellent, considering games were played at 1280 x 1024 with all details set to high for all games. Performance in Lock On was especially, good considering that the Pentium 4 was unable to maintain an above 30fps frame rate and would often drop to 15-20fps. The 3800+ was able to maintain high fps and smooth sequences throughout game play, once hitting the high 90's.
The AMD 64 is definitely the current cpu of choice for high-end gaming. Given that Doom 3 has gone gold and HL2 could be a stone throw away from gold as well, gamers who are considering an upgrade would do well to purchase an AMD 64 Socket 939 processor. The 939 offers a clear software upgrade path to 64-bit when Microsoft releases its 64-bit operating system where Pentium 4 owners will be forced to remain using current 32 bit Windows XP systems without realizing the performance gains of a 64 bit OS.
With confirmation that Microsoft is releasing a 64-bit version of Windows XP, and reviews demonstrating noticeable gains under a 64 bit OS, it's confusing that Intel has dismissed the 64-bit consumer processor revolution that the consumer/desktop computing market is definitely heading towards. In either case, AMD is the clear winner here, with a stable 64/32-bit product that is crushing the competition in nearly every benchmark and in real-world performance.
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