Conclusion
What has our Prototype performance analysis taught us? First and foremost, we learned that this title values CPU speed and architecture over graphics prowess. Based on our testing, a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Quad performed less than half as fast as a Core i7 at 2.66 GHz. This means that, for playable performance, the Core i7 CPU is an ideal companion to Prototype, but if you're planning to play it on something different, you should target a quad-core Core 2 Quad or Phenom II in the 2.5 GHz or faster range. A dual-core Core 2 Duo or Phenom II-based CPU might do the trick, but you'd ideally want something in the neighborhood of 3 GHz.
Because this game title is so CPU-dependent, the graphics subsystem doesn't have the pronounced effect on performance we've come to expect. The silver lining is that even a GeForce 9600 GT or Radeon HD 4830 will deliver great performance compared to more expensive solutions. When AA is applied, you might prefer a Radeon graphics card for resolutions of 1920x1200 or higher. But below that, most GeForce cards performed very smoothly as well.
We were a little surprised to see such a high CPU dependency, but frankly we don't benchmark a lot of sandbox-style games, so perhaps this is par for the course. In the meantime, we'll be exploring Alex Mercer's Manhattan, trying to find out exactly what it was that turned him into such a powerful badass.
