Blade_Runner
Forerunner
Far Cry AMD64 Edition - A First Look at 64-bit Gaming
Performance
Image Quality
Conclusion:
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Performance
First, we see that the difference between running the 32-bit binary in XP Professional and x64 Edition is basically nothing. Next, there's a modest performance gain seen by the Athlon 64 X2 when using the 64-bit binary - we see a boost of 4%. Note that this sort of a performance improvement isn't noticeable at all to the end user, but there is a numerical advantage.
Interestingly enough, Intel actually does a little better - showing a 6.5% increase in performance. It's tough to say exactly why Intel gets more of a performance boost here, other than assuming that for whatever reason, Intel is facing more register pressure in our particular benchmark.
We're just happy that there is any sort of performance improvement at all - but to those looking for major increases in performance by moving to 64-bits, it's less and less likely to happen.
Image Quality
Performance is only one aspect of the new Far Cry patches - the biggest impact will be visual. The visual improvements in the new patches are definitely noticeable, but not across the board.
Conclusion:
Although AMD and Ubisoft are definitely trying to provide 64-bit gamers with added value, it's honestly going to take games that depend on the benefits of a 64-bit OS to really sell the gaming population on 64-bit. For fans of Far Cry, there's no reason not to try the new patches, but we wouldn't expect a mass exodus to x64 Edition because of the content that's been enabled here.
AMD's goals are quite admirable, but the fact of the matter is that none of the visual improvements enabled by the Far Cry patches had anything to do with AMD64 or EM64T. They are artificially limited to run on those platforms alone, but could work just as well on a 32-bit platform.
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