Today we are comparing various quality settings and hardware configurations using Cities XL 2011. In doing so we hope to try and help gamers determine what kind of settings they can adjust to maximize their performance and what possible hardware upgrades they could make if necessary to improve performance...

While I am yet to spend much time playing Cities XL 2011, it certainly looks like a fun city building game that players can pour countless hours into. For the most part the game plays pretty well, but honestly it would play so much better if it were better designed to utilize today’s hardware. It has been quite some time since we have tested a game that is not even properly dual-core optimized.

Lost Planet 2 was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 a few months ago, while the PC version is yet to be released. Although initially released on console, Capcom has spent a little extra time working on the PC version, namely to include DirectX 11 effects. Being a DX11 title that makes good use of tessellation, Nvidia were very keen to get onboard and promote the game, and already there is a stand-alone benchmark available...

It is now blatantly obvious why Nvidia is working to promote Lost Planet 2, as their latest generation graphics cards enjoy a significant performance advantage over their competition when playing the game using DirectX 11. However before we jump to any real conclusions there are a few things to be aware of.

Today we are taking almost half a dozen games to see how they perform when using one, two and four cores. For this test we will be using not just an Intel Core i7 processor, but also the Core i5, Core 2 Quad and AMD Phenom II X4 processors, which will give us a good idea of just how core dependent each series is in order to deliver maximum performance...

Looking at the results it obviously comes down to which games you are playing, and plan to play, that will dictate how many cores you are going to need. As a rule of thumb we suggest all gamers look at making the transition to a quad-core processor, as we found more than half the games we tested with saw significant gains when going from two to four cores.

In the second installment of our Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire CPU Scaling Performance article we are including a total of 11 processors from both AMD and Intel. With over 2800 unique results, we have covered a number of processor series in a range of gaming titles...

For the most part the Core i7 9xx and Core i5 7xx series were in a league of their own. Something that we did also find surprising was the fact that for the most part the Core i3 5xx series kept pace with the Phenom II X4 on a clock-for-clock basis. Something else we noticed when making this comparison was that the Core i3 5xx almost always matched the minimum frame rate of the Phenom II X4, while in a number of cases it was significantly faster.

Metro 2033 has just been released and today we are comparing the performance and visual quality of various settings and hardware configurations. In doing so we hope to try and help gamers determine what kind of settings they can adjust to maximize their performance and what possible hardware upgrades they could make if necessary to improve performance...

Metro 2033 is a tall order for any system and we see no easy way to optimize your computer for this title. Those with mid-range graphics cards will find that DirectX 9 is not going to help improve performance and therefore might as well stick with DX10. Overclocking your processor is not likely to improve performance either, as we found when testing at frequencies from 2.0GHz through to 3.60GHz.

Today we are comparing various quality settings and hardware configurations using Battlefield: Bad Company 2. In doing so we hope to try and help gamers determine what kind of settings they can adjust to maximize their performance and what possible hardware upgrades they could make if necessary to improve performance...

For those using mid-range or low-end graphics cards it appears that a quad-core processor is a must for playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2. That said, those with high-end graphics cards are likely to have a quad-core processor anyway, so dual-cores are out then. Those with graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 4870 or GeForce GTX 260 should look into forcing the DirectX 9 rendering mode if they are unhappy with their current level of performance, as we did see reasonable performance gains when doing so.

The time has come once again for us to take a pair of the gaming industry’s fastest performance graphics cards and couple then with a range of processors from both AMD and Intel. In this first part, which will be just one of many, we are taking the Core i7, Core i3, Phenom II X4, Phenom II X2 processors and testing them with Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire graphics cards at frequencies from 2.0GHz through to 4.0GHz...

However what the data recorded in this article suggests is when future games became more demanding on the CPU, the Core i7 is going to provide a higher level of performance. While this is a very likely scenario, the Core i7 has been available for well over a year now and this still has not happened. Therefore in terms of value, the Phenom II X4 still makes more sense for gaming purposes.

It has been 3 years since the original Supreme Commander game was released, along with our performance analysis of the game. Now with the release of Supreme Commander 2 we are taking a look at how your gaming system might handle this second installment, by testing a huge range of current and past graphics cards...

When it came to benchmarking Supreme Commander 2 to see how demanding this new RTS would be, we were pleasantly surprised. The original version was very demanding and I recall testing it just as we have Supreme Commander 2. At the time we threw the best processor and graphics cards at Supreme Commander and even they had a hard time delivering acceptable performance with maximum in-game quality settings enabled.

Today we are going to run some preliminary performance tests using Blizzards upcoming game, StarCraft II Wings of Liberty, which has just entered the beta testing phase. Although the results will be based on a beta version of the game, they should give you a fairly good idea of how your gaming system will handle this exciting real-time strategy game...

StarCraft II is not nearly as demanding as I imagined it might have been, and despite looking quite impressive, it was very playable on mid-range graphics cards using maximum in-game quality settings at extreme resolutions such as 2560x1600. Although we have only given you a preview of the performance that is to be expected from StarCraft II by using a beta copy, this should give gamers a good idea of how their gaming system will handle this new title.

The time has come once again for us to take the gaming industry’s fastest performance graphics card and couple it with a wide range of processors from both AMD and Intel. In this first part, which will be just one of many, we are taking the Core i7 (LGA1366) processors and testing them with the Radeon HD 5970 at frequencies from 2.0GHz through to 4.0GHz...

Although we have only tested with the Core i7 processors thus far, the results are still quite interesting. For the most part the games were still very much GPU limited despite using the Radeon HD 5970, which is currently the worst fastest single graphics card. Games such as BattleForge, Crysis Warhead, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X, Wolfenstein and Far Cry 2 showed little to no difference in performance when clocking our Core i7 processor anywhere from 2.0GHz to 4.0GHz.

Today we had planned to show you how the Radeon HD 5970 performs when overclocked. However the more we began to play with the Radeon HD 5970 the less likely that article seemed possible and instead we began to head in another direction, which lead us to this article “ATI Radeon HD 5970 Overclocking Problems”...

Before long we spotted the throttling issue, but failed to find a way around it. Having messed around with various frequencies, we were shocked to find that the default specifications would eventually result in throttling when both cores were taxed. In fact, we found that unless the cores were both locked at 650MHz, the cores would eventually throttle down to 550MHz.

Valve is about to officially release its latest gaming title, Left 4 Dead 2, and we decided to check it out. The focus of our article is not so much on game play, but rather how well certain graphics cards perform when using maximum in-game visual settings at a range of resolutions...

The new melee weapons will certainly appeal to fans, and it has to be said that there is certainly something about whacking zombies in the head with a frying pan that never gets old. Left 4 Dead 2 has already provided us with a great deal of entertainment in the few days that we got to play it, and we hope that the fans enjoy it as much as we did.

Today we are looking at what the best option in the sub-$80 graphics card market is for gamers, which led us to a direct comparison between the new GeForce GT 220 and the old Radeon HD 4670. The cards will be compared in a number of games while we will also look at their power consumption levels and overall value...

The GeForce GT 220 has done very little to mix things up in the low-end market segment, as it fails to offer anything new at its price point of $70 US. Yes, it is an affordable 40nm graphics card, but that bandwagon will only get Nvidia so far. The GeForce GT 220 was superior to the 14 month old Radeon HD 4670 in terms of power consumption and operating temperature when under load.

Today we are going to provide you with a basic step-by-step guide on how to overclock a graphics card. The new Radeon HD 5750 is already proving to be a popular choice among budget gamers, and at just $145 US there is little not to like about this new AMD graphics card. Those wanting the maximum bang for their buck are most likely interested in overclocking this new graphics card and we are going to show you how...

Overclocking your graphics card is a very quick and easy way to get a little extra performance out of your system. The overclock that we went with when testing our Radeon HD 5750 should be considered as a mild overclock, as we were able to push the core and memory quite a bit higher. However to avoid any stability issues we backed the overclock off and in doing so still enjoyed performance gains as high as 20%.

Today we are bringing you a step by step overclocking guide from the Intel Core i5 750 processor. While much of the information that we will be giving you is valid for all P55 motherboards, we will be focusing on the ASUS P7P55D for this particular guide. Through our testing we managed to achieve almost a 60% overclock and we can show you how it’s done in just a few easy steps...

The Core i5 750 is a great processor in the sense that it is cheap and a magnificent overclocker. However it has been the combination of the Core i5 750 and the ASUS P7P55D motherboard series that has impressed us the most, at least when it comes to overclocking. Already we have spent quite a bit of time playing with P55 motherboards from makers such as Asrock, DFI, ECS, EVGA, Gigabyte and MSI and while some have been able to reproduce this impressive 4.20GHz overclock none did it as easily.

For something a little different today we are taking four quad-core series and comparing how they performance when operating at the same frequency. This clock for clock article features the Phenom II X4, Core 2 Quad, Core i7 and the new Core i5 series. Not only will we be comparing them at 2.80GHz but also at 3.60GHz to give overclockers an idea of what they can expect...

The most surprising match up was between the Core i5 750 and Core i7 860, which I mentioned was our original intention for this article. When clocked at the same frequency there is little difference between these two processors, and when pushing them as high as 3.60GHz there really is no difference. Of course the only difference between the two is the Hyper-Threading support of the Core i7 860, which really failed to help it in the majority of our tests.

Today we are taking a quick look at the multiplayer performance using various high-end graphics cards in the new Wolfenstein game. This is the sequel to Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which has been built using the id Tech 4 engine, a heavily modified version we might add…

The new Wolfenstein is a stunning looking game that is filled with tons of great effects. In order to truly appreciate the visuals in this game we recommend using maximum in game quality settings with at least 4x anti-aliasing and 4x anisotropic filtering enabled.

Today we are looking at how various DDR3 memory frequencies and timings affect the AM3 platform in terms of performance. This guide is intended to help users put AM3 memory performance into perspective, helping them to choose exactly what kind of DDR3 memory they need...

It is fair to say that just about anything goes, as we found timings and even frequency had little impact on performance, at least within reason. Naturally no one is going to use DDR3 memory clocked at 800MHz, and even 1066MHz memory is really out of the question as it's almost impossible to buy. The most common option is DDR3-1333, and as we found this appears to be the best all round option.

At least once a year we put down our Extreme Edition processors, dual-GPU graphics cards, 2560x1600 LCD’s, and RAID configurations to build something a little more realistic, something all of us can enjoy, a budget gaming system...

Amazingly the guts of our Ultimate Budget Gaming System cost just $336 US, and this includes the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition processor, ASUS Extreme AH4770 graphics card, ASUS M3A78-EM motherboard, and OCZ Blade Series 4GB memory kit. Really, to think that all we need now is a case/power supply and a hard drive is incredible.

Today we are taking a look at how the latest ATI and Nvidia graphics cards perform in what will likely be this year’s best selling game, The Sims 3. This article is designed to give you an idea of how high-end graphics cards will perform in this game using the very best quality settings and the results were surprising...

Despite featuring lack luster graphics, The Sims 3 did not run nearly as nicely as we had expected it would when using the GeForce GTX 285 for example. Right away we were surprised at how jerky the game was when scrolling around. The jerky performance was a bit of a mystery, as the GeForce GTX 285 produced a minimum frame rate of 64fps at 2560x1600.

This week a brand new battle will erupt between two new mainstream performance competitors, as ATI preps their Radeon HD 4890 and Nvidia counters with the GeForce GTX 275. These new graphics cards are set to cost around $250 US, and at that price they should offer an impressive level of performance. The only question now is which delivers the best performance?

The Radeon HD 4870 has always been the king of value, not performance, and with 1GB cards selling for as little as $190 US, this has never been truer. The Radeon HD 4890 threatens the great value of the Radeon HD 4800 series, as it delivered just 5-6% more performance while priced at around 25% more. It was disappointing to find that in so many tests the Radeon HD 4890 was just a few frames per second faster than the original.

Today we are checking out how high-end graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 4870 X2 and GeForce GTX 295, perform in the new Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. game using a range of quality settings. The results really did vary quite dramatically depending on the quality settings, so for those keen to play this new game be sure to check out the benchmark results...

Although we have only spent a very limited amount of time actually playing Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. it looks to be a very exciting game with loads of potential. Furthermore it looks to be a game that is not overlay demanding as evident by the DX9 results with anti-aliasing disabled. That said those planning on playing Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. in DirectX 10 mode will require a little more processing power.

Finally it is time once again for us to take the gaming industry’s fastest performance graphics card and couple it with a wide range of processors from both AMD and Intel. Having not seen the light of day for some time now, we present you with 35 different processor configurations that were tested in 7 different games using the GeForce GTX 295. Due to popular demand the latest Core i7 and Phenom II X4 processors have also been added to the mix...

However there are a few interesting things worth noting. First of all the Core 2 Duo processors continued to fair very well, and we did not see them being dominated by the quad-core parts as much as we had expected. Although there were a few games such as Far Cry 2 that really saw that Core 2 Quad and even Phenom II X4 processors really take charge, the Core 2 Duo’s did manage to hang in there and even win a few tests.

Nvidia has been turning up the heat and with the holiday season almost here they are pushing their GeForce GTX 260 (216SP) graphics card harder than ever. Of course AMD/ATI is able to answer with the Radeon HD 4870 (1GB), but how does it compare in the latest and greatest games? We decided to find out...

The GeForce GTX 260 (216SP) is now matching the price of the Radeon HD 4870 (1GB), and we have even found examples online that are much cheaper, so price is no longer a concern. There is also no longer any concern with the performance of the GeForce GTX 260 (216SP), particularly when focusing on the more recently released titles.

Today we are doing a simple kind of article that compares the performance of Nvidia’s latest driver, using the increasingly popular GeForce GTX 260 (216SP) graphics card, against a much older driver. The new Forceware 180.70 driver is creating a bit of commotion due to various claims that insist it delivers much more performance, so we want to find out if it really does...

Last week when the Forceware 180.43 drivers trickled onto the scene quite a few people made a really big deal out of them, we suspect with a little prodding from Nvidia. Still it interested us enough to investigate, but as it turns out there is nothing all that interesting to be seen. When comparing the Forceware 180.43 driver to the four month old 177.79 version we found almost no difference in performance.