Crysis Benchmark Part 1

Hi! This is my first post in my blog. Today I'm going to benchmark my beloved PC to run Crysis, A new game from Crytek that boasts breathtaking visual graphics with realistic physics you never seen before.
Now before judging about anything, let's see if the visual effects are indeed stunning or killing.. if your PC cannot handle it.

First, I will show you my current PC specifications:
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 524 3.06GHz with 533Mhz FSB (Prescott LGA775 32-bit 1MB L2 Cache)
- Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-8I945PLGE-RH with Intel 945PL Express chipset
- Video card: EVGA GeForce 8600GT 256MB (Standard version with 169.25 Forceware driver)
- Memory: 2GB PC-4200 DDR2 533MHz
- Hard disk: 3 7200rpm hard drives (1 SATA II, 1 IDE ATA 133) with the total of 360GB
- Sound card: RealTek Azalia on-board
- OS: Windows Vista Home Basic Edition SP1 v6.0.6001.18000 RTM (Yeah, I don't like the Ultimate one, I tried that one and I am really dissapointed with its performance!!)

For testing purpose, I use Crysis Benchmark Tool v1.0.0.5. The Crysis game itself is patched to v1.1.

Here are the test results!
Test Run #1
Settings: High (Global settings to High)
Resolution: 1024x768
AntiAliasing: No
Demo Level: benchmark_cpu @ 7a.m.
Average FPS Results: 11.90 FPS
Screenshot:

Test Run #2
Settings: Custom (This is the settings that I used to play the game)
- VolumetricEffects=Medium
- Texture=High
- ObjectDetail=Medium
- Sound=Medium
- Shadows=Medium
- Water=High
- Physics=Medium
- Particles=Medium
- Shading=High
- PostProcessing=VeryHigh
- GameEffects=Medium
Resolution: 1024x768
AntiAliasing: No
Demo Level: benchmark_cpu @ 7a.m.
Average FPS Results: 12.94 FPS
Screenshot:

Conclusion:
I didn't turn the settings lower than that because there will be huge noticeable differences in terms of visual quality which will make the gameplay somewhat unsatisfying (apart from the better FPS). So in this case, I think I have four options:
1. Upgrade my CPU to Pentium D
2. Upgrade my video card to 8800GTS (Which is quite impossible as my fund is limited and I just recently upgrade to 8600GT!!)
3. Upgrade the whole system (This one is ridiculous!!)
4. Throw away Crysis (This even more ridiculous, because I really like it!!)

So.. it seems that the reasonable option is to upgrade my CPU. Alright, next time I'll return with my new benchmark using Pentium D 940 3.20GHz 4MB L2 Cache. I think it should improve the FPS to 4-7 FPS.

If you have performance problem for Crysis but don't want to upgrade your PC, the Crysis guide from TweakGuides.com may prove useful. With some text editing, your PC may be able to run Crysis quite smoothly with a lot of visual effects compensation (Still, better than heavy lag..).

Links:
www.ea.com/crysis/ - Official Crysis website
downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1791 - Crysis benchmark tool
www.tweakguides.com/Crysis_1.html - TweakGuide for Crysis