Quake 4 performance was tested by manually executing a gameplay walkthrough that begins as you enter the air defense complex at the start of the game. The walkthrough takes about two minutes to complete and concludes when you meet up with the Badger Squad.
A 320x240 resolution MPEG-1 video/audio clip of the complete walkthrough can be viewed using this link (~ 22MB). A shorter clip, which contains the first 15 seconds of the walkthrough, can be viewed using this link (~3MB).
Quake 4 Settings
The frame rate in Quake 4 is capped at 60fps during gameplay. On the Athlon 64 X2 4800+, SLI achieved an average of 57fps with 4X AA enabled at the widescreen resolution of 1920x1200.
Athlon 64 - Quake 4 Gameplay Results
A walkthrough using the Ultra Quality video setting was also conducted on the Athlon 64 X2 4800+. A slight improvement in performance over the High Quality setting occurred as shown by the frame rate per second graph.
Athlon 64 - Quake 4 Gameplay FPS Graph
The 3.4GHz Pentium 4 approached the 60fps cap as well with 4X AA enabled at a resolution of 1600x1200. The Ultra Quality video setting caused hitching to occur at various areas throughout the walkthrough.
Pentium 4 - Quake 4 Gameplay Results
Enabling the new multiple CPU/core setting in Quake 4 had no perceivable effect on performance in the walkthrough. However, a beta patch was being used.
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