Intel 925X/915: Chipset Performance & DDR2

925X vs. 915 vs. Athlon 64: Gaming Performance

The performance difference between 915 and 925X remains very small in Gaming benchmarks. 925X is faster, but the performance advantage for 925X ranges from almost nil in DirectX 9 games like Halo to about 2% in other games. We really expected a wider difference in 925X and 915 performance. Perhaps as DDR2 memory matures and timings improve, we will begin to see a wider performance difference in the Intel chipsets.

The Gaming advantage of the FX53 here is striking. The top Athlon 64 leads in every gaming benchmark, but it completely dominates OpenGL performance in games like Quake and the more recent Return to Castle Wolfenstein. FX53 also dominates in DirectX 8.1 games like Unreal Tournament 2003. Not surprisingly, Final Fantasy XI is another game that FX53 dominates. Other Direct X 9 titles show much more competitive performance between the Intel platforms and Athlon 64. Overall, AMD's top FX53 completely dominates Intel's top 560 (3.6GHz) in most games.