Valve Source engine particle simulation
Next up are a couple of tests we picked up during a visit to Valve Software, the developers of the Half-Life games. They've been working to incorporate support for multi-core processors into their Source game engine, and they've cooked up a couple of benchmarks to demonstrate the benefits of multithreading.

The first of those tests runs a particle simulation inside of the Source engine. Most games today use particle systems to create effects like smoke, steam, and fire, but the realism and interactivity of those effects is limited by the available computing horsepower. Valve's particle system distributes the load across multiple CPU cores.

Once games come around to using four cores in a meaningful way—and it looks like Valve's Source engine will make that happen—the QX6800 will be well positioned to take advantage.

Valve VRAD map compilation
This next test processes a map from Half-Life 2 using Valve's VRAD lighting tool. Valve uses VRAD to precompute lighting that goes into its games. This isn't a real-time process, and it doesn't reflect the performance one would experience while playing a game. It does, however, show how multiple CPU cores can speed up game development.

Were you expecting anything else? The QX6800 sticks to the top spot like peanut butter to the roof of your mouth.

(Wait for it. I'm working on the chimp, the priest, and the rabbi.)