Introducing the New Phenom II 980 BE vs. Core i7-920 – value meets performance again

Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead (L4D) is a 2008 co-op first-person shooter that was developed by Turtle Rock Studios and purchased by Valve Corporation during its development. Left 4 Dead uses Valve’s proprietary Source engine . L4D is set in the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic which pits its four protagonists against hordes of the infected zombies. There are four game modes: a single-player mode in which your allies are controlled by AI; a four-player, co-op campaign mode; an eight-player online versus mode; and a four-player survival mode. In all modes, an artificial intelligence (AI), dubbed the “Director”, controls pacing and spawns, to create a more dynamic experience with increased replay value. It is best as a multiplayer game with humans.

There is no built-in benchmark, so we created our own custom time demo which is very repeatable. The game is updated regularly by Steam and we chose the highest detail settings and 8xAA. We test at 2560×1600 and 1920×1200 resolutions:

Left 4 Dead places the Core i7-920 well ahead of the Phenom II X4 980 BE until the resolution is increased. However, there is no practical difference playing this game on either CPU platform at 1920×1200 and you will not be left behind.