X3:Terran Conflict

Publisher: EgoSoft

X3: Terran Conflict is the latest space-based trading and fighting game in the X3 series. It uses masses of polygons and geometry to create the complex ships and so is a very stressful test for a CPU.

Remember that it's the CPU that constructs the wire-frame models of game objects, before a GPU can apply texture and lighting.

To run the benchmark, first download the rolling demo and set the graphics options as below. Then remember to tick the 'Run as benchmark' box and hit go. We average the results of the four component tests to give a single minimum and average frame rate.




X3 performance is, well, extremely poor. There's nearly a 15 per cent difference in performance between the same clocked Phenom II X4 and Athlon II X4, and the Phenom is nearly a whopping 25 per cent slower than the same priced Phenom II X2. Even overclocked it can barely keep up: clearly don't buy this CPU if you want to play games. Cheap gaming still requires MHz (and super low latency cache) over core count.