F.E.A.R. CPU Shootout: AMD vs. Intel

After running through 20 different processor configurations, it’s safe to say that nearly any chip from either AMD’s or Intel’s current crop of shipping mainstream-and-higher products will deliver the goods in F.E.A.R. All of that extra AI and physics doesn’t exact a grueling enough load to tax modern processors, even while those game engine components contribute greatly to F.E.A.R.’s relatively believability.

The real answer is graphics, graphics, graphics. It doesn’t matter if you own the fastest video card on the market—two of them will nearly double your speed with all of the eye candy cranked up. Dropping the resolution and dialing down some of the knobs will improve performance, but it won’t minimize the game’s dependency on graphics horsepower.

From the way things are shaping up for me in these first few levels, F.E.A.R may be the one game since Half-Life 2 to make buying new hardware truly worthwhile, too.

FiringSquad