Benchmark Results: Crysis And Just Cause 2
Crysis
At High detail levels, the current PC is quite CPU-limited, and there isn't much performance to be had by overclocking the graphics hardware. December's build at its stock settings matches today's best effort all the way through 1680x1050. Meanwhile, its significantly overclocked Radeon HD 6870 maintains a slight lead through 1920x1080.
Crysis at Very High detail settings is a measuring stick of sorts for the seriousness of our little budget system, and the Radeon HD 6870 is about as mainstream as you'd want to go at 1920x1080. This quarter's machine is much more processor-bound at 1280x720 than its predecessor, but increasing resolution quickly shift demands over to the graphics hardware. The 3-6 FPS advantage held by this quarter's PC may not look significant, especially since most folks would be happy with either rig at these settings. But gamers with more exacting demands may find it necessary to turn down details on the Radeon HD 6870 in order to get through taxing levels like Paradise Lost. We'll call that a victory for today's machine.
Just Cause 2
Our first results from Just Cause 2 resemble what we saw in Crysis. The Core i3-2120 inhibits performance at lower resolutions, though demands shift over to the graphics card as the screen size goes up.
Enabling 8x AA at the highest detail levels loads up our graphics cards. At anything higher than 1280x1024, the Radeon HD 6870 falls behind. Despite what would seem like marginal results, actually playing around in the game’s lush foliage and the Panau City financial district confirmed that an overclocked Radeon HD 6870 is indeed capable of 8xAA at 1920x1080. Frame rates int he game itself rarely dipped below the average reported by the Concrete Jungle benchmark.
The current PC fared even better when we maxed it out at 1920x1080. As we explored demanding areas in the game world, frame rates varied between 50 and 60 FPS, only briefly dropping below 40 FPS during intense explosions. When we factor in overclocking, both platforms are playable at our target settings.
