We upgraded Quake 4 to version 1.4.2 and ran its new multiplayer demo id_perftest at 1024x768x32 with SMP option enable (which allows Quake 4 to recognize and use more than one CPU), under two scenarios: first with image quality settings configured at “low” and then with image quality settings configured at “high.” You can check the results below, given in frames per second.

Here all CPUs achieved exactly the same performance, meaning that on this game the video card was the component limiting the performance, not the CPU. Nowadays for a better gaming performance it is better to have a more expensive video card than a more expensive CPU with an entry-level video card.