Crysis 1.2	Source: Electronic Arts

Crysis is a science fiction first-person shooter developed by Crytek. Crysis uses Microsoft's new API, DirectX 10 for graphics rendering, and includes the new engine—the CryEngine 2—that is the successor to Far Cry's CryEngine. CryEngine 2 is among the first engines to use the DirectX 10 framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX 9, both on Vista and Windows XP.

Higher results are better.

Crysis v1.2.1 No AA - Windows Vista 800x600 LQ Physics Very High (FPS) Ranking Intel Core i7 920 117.47 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 114.905 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 104.09 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 95.89 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 101.98 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 83.65 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 87.41 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 97.89 AMD Athlon II X4 620 69.36 AMD Athlon II X2 250 87.76 1024x768 LQ Physics Very High (FPS) Ranking Intel Core i7 920 117.01 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 114.72 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 103.75 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 96.14 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 101.72 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 83.77 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 87.71 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 96.83 AMD Athlon II X4 620 69.17 AMD Athlon II X2 250 88.59 800x600 LQ (FPS) Ranking Intel Core i7 920 115.95 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 115.355 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 104.09 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 96.05 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 101.14 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 84.09 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 87.01 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 96.33 AMD Athlon II X4 620 69.54 AMD Athlon II X2 250 88.4 1024x768 LQ (FPS) Ranking Intel Core i7 920 117.06 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 115.52 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 104.59 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 95.86 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 101.19 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 84.13 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 87.47 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 95.95 AMD Athlon II X4 620 69.35 AMD Athlon II X2 250 88.74

Real-world gaming is quite a different story. Crysis is much more attuned to memory performance and CPU clockspeed (and even more so to videocard performance), and the Athlon II X4 620 isn't particularly gifted in either of those areas.

Crysis v1.2.1 No AA - Windows 7 800x600 LQ Physics Very High (FPS) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 107.32 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 98.59 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 91.24 AMD Athlon II X4 620 70.81 1024x768 LQ Physics Very High (FPS) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 109.32 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 97.25 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 91.22 AMD Athlon II X4 620 70.51 800x600 LQ (FPS) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 106.71 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 99.38 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 91.39 AMD Athlon II X4 620 70.77 1024x768 LQ (FPS) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 106.9 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 98.16 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 91.39 AMD Athlon II X4 620 70.88

Performance in Crysis is not a strong suit for the Athlon II X4 620, under Windows Vista or Windows 7. The clock speeds and lack of L3 cache really hurt the Athlon II X4 620 here.