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AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition and Radeon 4670

Join the community - in the OCAU Forums! Date  16th January 2009 Author  dirtyd Editor  James "Agg" Rolfe Manufacturer  AMD Far Cry 2 Benchmarks, Conclusions Far Cry 2: Sequel to a game that was supposed to herald the era of 64-bit gaming (cough), Far Cry 2 is based in a nameless African country that is ravaged by warring factions. As I anticipated the graphics card would struggle at 1920x1080, I stuck to 1360x768 but managed to get some DX10 testing done. DirectX 9: Phenom 8750 Phenom II 940 Phenom II 940 OC DirectX 10: Phenom 8750 Phenom II 940 Phenom II 940 OC In an effort to spice up the review a bit I thought I’d provide these frame rate graphs, which are courtesy of the game’s benchmark tool, which itself is nothing short of fantastic. The 640x480 testing reveals what happens when we attempt to eliminate the graphics card from the render equation as much as possible. In comparison to the Phenom 8750, the Phenom II 940 enjoys a 27% cushion for the minimum frame rate and a 24% cushion for the average frame rate. When overclocked this jumps out to 47% and 42% respectively. DirectX 10 with Far Cry 2 doesn’t allow low settings, but at the lowest setting of, err, high, the Phenom II exceeds the 8750 by 16% for the average frame rate, and ekes it out 17% when overclocked. Clearly we are hitting the limit imposed by the Radeon 4670, which is nonetheless performing impressively. Conclusions: Phenom II: AMD’s new CPU is certainly a sight for sore eyes, especially for overclockers. The performance gains across the board are there to be had, and it looks like the AMD platform is starting to really get going. The general consensus amongst hardware enthusiasts up until this point is that AMD graphics cards and chipsets are pulling their weight, but the CPU’s are being outshone, at least in raw performance terms and overclocking capabilities. The new Phenom II’s will put a dent in this commonly held belief, as they perform adequately and provide room for those looking to push their systems to the limit. Furthermore, if you’re interested in sub-zero cooling, I encourage you to have a go, as thankfully these new AMD CPU’s don’t suffer the same problems of previous generations. With simple “crank up the multiplier” overclocking, it’s pretty easy to get hooked! Radeon 4670: To be absolutely honest, after being gutted when returning the big-daddy 4870X2 and eventually receiving a 4670, I expected the worst. While this card might not allow you to run all the bells and whistles of anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering and high dynamic range lighting, the bang-for-buck cannot be underestimated. For all of AU$115 you can have a card that will play Dead Space at “Full HD” (1920x1080), which I found quite incredible, especially considering the level of visual detail the game encompasses. Highly recommended for gamers on a tight budget. Thanks must go out to AMD Australia for providing the sample units for review. << Back OCAU Main Page Select Page Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 -

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