Futuremark 3DMark Vantage	Source: FutureMark

3DMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed to test the DirectX10 performance of your graphics card. We’ve been making 3DMark for over 10 years, with each new edition using the latest 3D technology to determine real-world performance. A 3DMark score is an overall measure of your system’s 3D gaming capabilities, based on comprehensive real-time 3D graphics and processor tests. By comparing your score with those submitted by millions of other gamers you can see how your gaming rig performs, making it easier to choose the most effective upgrades or finding other ways to optimize your system.

Higher results are better.

Futuremark 3DMark08 Vantage 1.0.1 Performance Overall: (P) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 7782 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 6633 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 4026 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 7363 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 3730 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 3717 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 6232 AMD Athlon II X2 250 6115 CPU Score: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 16399 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 6578 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 6250 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 11011 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 7289 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 7299 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 5253 AMD Athlon II X2 250 4993

Since the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition processor was tested a few months before the testing of the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition, the Phenom II X4 955 and the Athlon II X2 250, there have been some changes to the overall test platform that will skew the results somewhat: the 720BE, E8400 and E8500 were tested using a Geforce 8800GTS videocard, while the Athlon II X2 550, Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition, 955BE and Core i7 920 use a Geforce GTS 250 graphics card. This is also true for the remaining benchmarks in this review.

The Athlon II X2 250 is again pretty close to the Phenom 550BE, although neither of them can keep up with the Intel Core 2 Duo's in this benchmark.

Futuremark 3DMark06 1.1.0	Source: FutureMark

3DMark06 is the worldwide standard in advanced 3D game performance benchmarking. A fundamental tool for every company in the PC industry as well as PC users and gamers, 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next generation gaming performance today.

Higher results are better.

Futuremark 3DMark06 1.1.0 Overall: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 15134 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 13789 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 10196 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 15060 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 9618 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 9609 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 12830 AMD Athlon II X2 250 12391 CPU: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 4658 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 2928 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 2805 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 4446 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 3281 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 3271 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 2490 AMD Athlon II X2 250 2424

3DMark06 also puts the CPU scores for the dual-core AMD processors very close to each other. In this test both AMD processors are about 15% slower than the Intel Core 2 Duo processors.