CPU
We used the built-in Crysis CPU benchmark to see how the game performed across a broad range of CPUs. We also ran the game on the same CPU but set at different frequencies to see how much clock speeds affected performance. The Intel Core 2 CPUs ran Crysis with ease, and our dual-core AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors also performed quite well--they did take a minor performance hit but still maintained playable frame rates. Our older single-core Athlon 64 4000+ lagged behind the other processors by a considerable amount. The CPU becomes less of a bottleneck when we bump up the graphical complexity. If you have a single-core processor you should definitely consider upgrading to a multicore. However, if you already have a dual-core CPU, you probably won't gain very much by moving up to a quad-core CPU.
CPU Performance Tests
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
System Setup: Intel Core 2 X6800, Intel Core 2 QX6600 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, Intel 975XBX2, AMD Athlon 64 FX-60, AMD Athlon 64 4000+, ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe, 2GB Corsair XMS Memory (1GBx2), 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows Vista 32-bit. Graphics Card: GeForce 8800 GTX, beta Nvidia ForceWare 169.09.
Memory
The Crysis system requirements list recommends 1GB of RAM in Windows XP and 1.5GB of RAM in Windows Vista. These recommendations ring true for the most part. We didn't experience any adverse affects from running our systems with 1GB of RAM aside from slightly longer load times. Frame rates didn't increase when we moved up the ladder to two and then three gigabytes of RAM.
Memory Performance Tests
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
System Setup: Intel Core 2 X6800, Intel 975XBX2, 3GB Corsair XMS Memory (1GBx2 + 512MBx2), 2GB Corsair XMS Memory (1GBx2), Corsair XMS Memory 1GB, 1GB Corsair XMS Memory (512MBx2), 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit. Graphics Card: GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB, Nvidia ForceWare 169.04.
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