Dual-core desktop duel: AMD vs. Intel

Round 2: Gaming
He who frags fastest, frags best.

AMD

AMD
3D gaming opens up a can of worms for performance testing because it's so commonly associated with 3D graphics cards. The processor does affect 3D performance, however. In order to test our CPUs' 3D capability, we created a so-called CPU-limited Half-Life 2 benchmark, which turns off all of the advanced graphics features, as to minimise the calls to the onboard graphics chip. This lets the CPU do most of the 3D heavy lifting.

CPU limited custom Half-Life 2 demo (in fps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 Half-Life 2 1,024x768, no AA no AF  
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
140.6 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
131.9 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+
130.4 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
123.4 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
115.2 
Intel Pentium D 840
106.3 
Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840
104.4 
Intel Pentium D 830
101.6 
Intel Pentium D 820
96.3 

Intel should be embarrassed with its showing in round 2. At every turn, AMD beat it to the punch. Even the Athlon 64 X2 3800+, the lowest end of AMD's dual-core CPUs, is better suited to 3D gaming than Intel's highest-end Extreme Edition 840 CPU, which lost by a full 10 percent.

That said, we should point out that games aren't really designed to take advantage of CPUs with multiple processing threads yet. We expect to see multithreaded games that will take advantage of dual-core CPUs sometime next year, at which point the 3D gaming results will need revisiting (there will likely be new chips available by then, as well). But for now, if you are a gamer in need of a dual-core rig, the only choice you need to make is deciding which Athlon X2 chip to pick up.




Winner: AMD


    Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7  
  AMD X X            
  Intel                

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Talkback 10 comments

  1. AMD crushes Intel chips across the board Anonymous -- 13/12/05

    This is THE best article I have seen showing that AMD processors are dominant across the board - no ifs ands or butts. Its amazing to me this data isnt more well known and more importantly why a Dell doesnt take notice and ship AMD processors.

  2. The reason AMD X2's are faster Kym Busby -- 13/12/05

    There is good reason that the X2's are faster than the Intel's. The 2 cores of an AMD X2 talk to each other directly using a 2GHz Hypertransport link, while the 2 cores of an Intel talk to each other via the north bridge on an 800MHz FSB. This, as well as the integrated memory controller is the decisive factor in the absolute flogging the AMD's give to Intel !!!

  3. AMD neo -- 13/12/05

    LiveSTRONG AMD, Baby!

  4. Curious use of memory Joel Friedman -- 14/12/05

    Maybe it's a misprint, but why was 400Mhz DDR memory used for the AMD system and the higher speed DDR2 memory installed in the Intel tester? An intentional handicap?

    1. memory difference david lee -- 14/12/05

      I saw the memory speed to that is a 267Mhz difference and the amd still won

    2. Athlon doesn't support DDR2 Anonymous -- 14/12/05

      The Athlon does not support DDR2 memory. DDR has lower latency than DDR2 and better suits the Athlon. It should have been noted in the article what memory timings were used, however, as this plays a not unsignificant part in the overall system performance

    3. Athlon X2 supports ddr2 Bobson -- 02/04/07

      Athlon X2 supports DDR2 memory at 800mhz
      but the DDR mem. has a lower latency.

  5. Dual-Core blowout Anonymous -- 16/12/05

    I would like to see a control test using a single-core Intel EE and the AMD FX-55 or FX-57. Are the dual-core chips faster than their single-core cousins?

  6. AMD OR INTEL Colin Davies -- 10/05/07

    Im looking to upgrade motherboard and chip.Can any tell me which is the best for converting dvix to dvd.

    1. the best vic -- 06/06/08

      if u wanna do multi-tasking in a good pace, go for amd without even a second thought................

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