Core i5-2500K vs. Phenom II X4 975 BE CPU Review

Lost Planet 2

Lost Planet 2 is a game that uses a lot of DirectX 11 features, like tessellation (to round out the edges of polygonal models), displacement maps (added to the tessellated mesh to add fine grain details), DirectCompute soft body simulation (to introduce more realism in the “boss” monsters), and DirectCompute wave simulation (to introduce more realism in the physics calculations in water surfaces; when you move or when gunshots and explosions hit the water, it moves accordingly). We reviewed the CPUs using Lost Planet 2 internal benchmarking features, choosing the “Benchmark A” (we know that “Benchmark B” is the one recommended for reviewing video cards, however, at least with us, results were inconsistent). We ran this game at 1440×900 with graphics set at “low,” with no anti-aliasing and no anisotropic filtering. The results below are the number of frames per second generated by each system.

Since the integrated graphics engine of the Intel CPUs and AMD 880G chipset aren’t DirectX 11, we had to run this game in DirectX 9 mode in order to compare the performance of the integrated video. Under this scenario, the Core i5-2500K (3.30 GHz) was the fastest CPU, being 72% faster than the Core i5-661 (3.33 GHz) and 76%-79% faster than the integrated video produced by the AMD 880G chipset.

Installing a GeForce GT 430 video card, we were able to run this game in DirectX 11 mode. Here the Phenom II X4 975 (3.6 GHz) was 12% faster than the Core i5-2500K (3.30 GHz), which achieved the same performance level of the Core i5-661 (3.33 GHz).