Wolfenstein Graphics Performance In Depth Cpu Scaling Performance

The Core 2 Quad Q9650 and Phenom II X4 965 processors were used at a range of frequencies to measure CPU scaling performance in Wolfenstein. Like most first person shooters Wolfenstein is GPU bound and relies little on the processor to deliver performance. Clocking the Core 2 Quad Q9650 at 2.0GHz and then 3.0GHz produced the same results. This was also the case when testing with the Phenom II X4 965 processor.

Above is a screenshot of the processor utilization when running a time demo in Wolfenstein. As you can see, our Phenom II X4 965 processor which was underclocked by 1000MHz only ever used 40% of its power as it appeared that just two of the four cores were being accessed heavily.