Gaming Tests
Keep in mind once more that for our real-world gaming tests below we included BOTH 1024×768 results (for maximum CPU effectiveness) and resolutions of 1920×1200 and 2560×1600 to simulate gaming that YOU, as a consumer, would actually be doing and what performance differences these CPUs and platforms will provide.3DMark Vantage
A reliable and popular benchmark, 3DMark Vantage can provide a good insight into overall gaming performance of a system.
Ouch – obviously 3DMark Vantage is a bit too much for the Intel HD Graphics to handle…
World in Conflict
Most RTS games are more CPU intense that other titles and World in Conflict is no exception.
For World in Conflict, Clarkdale appears to be a competent gaming CPU even at high resolutions.
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 pairs impressive visuals with a truly interactive and destructible environment.
Now this is interesting – because the clock speeds on the Core i5-661 CPU are so high (up to 3.6 GHz by default with Turbo Mode) it is actually performing BETTER than the most expensive CPUs when paired with a discrete GPU.
Valve Source Particle Simulation
Valve released this particle simulation test a while back for benchmarking platforms and CPUs.
The particle simulation test from Valve puts the Core i5-661 above the Core 2 Quad processors.
Valve Source Map Compilation
More of a developer test than gamer test, this benchmark is indicative of how long it takes a system to compile a map.
In this compute-based test the new Clarkdale is only besting the Core 2 Duo CPU once again.