Juggernauts: EE vs. FX

Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition versus AMD Athlon 64 FX

Notes

At 800x600, with all of the graphical detail minimized, there’s a notable difference between AMD’s Athlon 64 FX series and the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. As we’ve seen through countless reviews, the FX is simply a better performer in games. The difference between AMD’s FX-55 and Intel’s own flagship, the 3.46GHz Extreme Edition, is greater than 18 percent.

That lead persists into 1280x1024, where the Athlon 64 FX-55 leads the 3.46GHz Extreme Edition by a margin of 14 percent. Then again, with both processors delivering in excess of 70 frames per second, they’re both considered playable still.

The upper echelon of processors is powerful indeed. So much so, in fact, that graphics horsepower starts to lag and all of the chips begin piling up on one another. The FX-55 still leads, but only by four percentage points. And at 60+ frames per second, the lead is hardly decisive. Fortunately, AMD still holds the crown for value (how’s that for a relative term, especially when we’re talking thousand dollar processors?). Its Athlon 64 FX-55 costs just over $800 online, while the 3.46GHz chip isn’t even registering yet.