For our next game test, we benchmarked all of the test systems using a custom multi-player Doom 3 timedemo. We cranked the resolution down to 640 x 480 and configured the game to run at its "Low-Quality" graphics setting. Although Doom 3 typically taxes today's high-end GPUs, when it's configured at these minimal settings it's more CPU and Memory-bound than anything else.

Benchmarks with Doom 3 OpenGL Gaming Performance

With Doom 3 there is a bit more to tell, but because we're running these benchmarks in a "timedemo" script, the test results look a little bit like our UT2004 scores.  Doom 3 is actually multithreaded, with engine physics and AI being driven on a separate thread.  However, in a timedemo scenario, the engine is in playback mode, so AI is taken completely out of the picture and the effects of real-time physics calculations are much less prominent. 

Additionally this game heavily favors overall system memory bandwidth as its predecessor Quake has historically.  In this test the Pentium 4 670, P4 EE 3.73GHz, the new Athlon 64 X2 4800+, and the FX-55 are all tightly bunched together with barely a 2-3% difference between the slowest and fastest scores.  Looking at things further, the 4000+ isn't that far behind either.  The only CPU that is really out in the cold here is the Pentium Extreme Edition 840 dual-core processor, which at a 3.2GHz clock speed per core, just doesn't have enough muscle to keep up with the other high-end CPUs in this death-match.