Crysis Warhead
We measured Warhead performance using the FRAPS frame-rate recording tool and playing over the same 60-second section of the game five times on each processor. This method has the advantage of simulating real gameplay quite closely, but it comes at the expense of precise repeatability. We believe five sample sessions are sufficient to get reasonably consistent results. In addition to average frame rates, we've included the low frame rates, because those tend to reflect the user experience in performance-critical situations. In order to diminish the effect of outliers, we've reported the median of the five low frame rates we encountered.

We tested at at relatively modest graphics settings, 1024x768 resolution with the game's "Mainstream" quality settings, because we didn't want our graphics card to be the performance-limiting factor. This is, after all, a CPU test.

Right out of the gate, Warhead demonstrates that one need not buy a fancy quad-core processor in order to play even the latest games. In fact, you're better off with a high-frequency dual-core than you are with a slower quad, as testified by the fact that the Core 2 Duo E8600 outperforms the Core i7-940 here. Similarly, the Phenom II X2 550 essentially ties the Phenom II X4 955.

Warhead does appear to be sensitive to cache sizes, though, judging by the fact that the Athlon II X2 250 falls well behind the Phenom II X2 550. In cases like this one, paying a little more for the extra cache helps. But then that's a pretty large difference in total effective cache size: 2304KB for the Athlon II X2 250 versus 7424KB for the Phenom II X2 550. The difference between the Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Q9400 is smaller—4096KB vs. 6144KB, respectively, of total effective cache—and doesn't appear to cross any major dividing lines: only two frames per second separate their averages.

Keeping score: Phenom II X4 940 over Q8400, the Pentium E6300 and Athlon II X2 250 essentially tie, and the Core i7-975 Extreme obliterates everything.

Far Cry 2
After playing around with Far Cry 2, I decided to test it a little bit differently by recording frame rates during the jeep ride sequence at the very beginning of the game. I found that frame rates during this sequence were generally similar to those when running around elsewhere in the game, and after all, playing Far Cry 2 involves quite a bit of driving around. Since this sequence was repeatable, I just captured results from three 90-second sessions.

Again, I didn't want the graphics card to be our primary performance constraint, so although I tested at fairly high visual quality levels, I used a relatively low 1024x768 display resolution and DirectX 9.

The minimum frame rates here are a little higher than in Warhead, generally speaking, which means nearly any of these processors should play this game pretty smoothly. Even the Pentium E6300's minimum frame rate is 30 FPS.