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	1024 x 768	1280 x 1024	1600 x 1200		Performance Hit 1280	Performance Hit 1600
Data Processing Terminal Gameplay	119.12	117.66	105.76		1.22%	11.22%
Data Processing Terminal Timedemo	109.96	111.43	107.89		-1.34%	1.89%
The Nexus Gameplay	85.31	81.93	71.2		3.97%	16.54%
The Nexus  Timedemo	80.65	78.98	67.11		2.07%	16.78%
Average (entire game)	88.98	86.64	81.68		2.59%	7.83%
Average (top 5 graphical levels)	87.5	84.8	72.53		2.94%	17.33%
	1024 x 768 AA AF	1280 x 1024 AA AF	1600 x 1200 AA AF
Data Processing Terminal Gameplay	98.08	69.01	50.68		29.64%	48.32%
Data Processing Terminal Timedemo	106.46	82.51	61.45		22.49%	42.28%
The Nexus Gameplay	64.13	44.02	32.46		31.37%	49.39%
The Nexus Timedemo	70.18	56.34	42.15		19.72%	39.94%

all numbers are in frame rates (except for percentages)

Since these two levels do not have checkpoint saves, we were also able to get a pretty repeatable minimum frame rate for both Data Processing Terminal and The Nexus. We saw earlier how gameplay testing sessions and timedemo runs results can be very  different and here we see it rears it's ugly head again. At 1024 x 768, without AA / AF, we have a higher minimum fps and average fps in gameplay testing sessions, while with AA and AF we have a higher minimum fps and lower average fps than timedemo runs in Data Processing Terminal. The same applies to The Nexus at 1024 x 768.

At 1280 x 1024 without AA and AF, gameplay testing sessions results are still generally higher than timedemo runs, but at 1600 x 1200 they're pretty much in the same in Data Processing Terminal. With AA and AF, 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200 behave differently - gameplay testing sessions results are higher at 1280 x 1024 and timedemo results are higher at 1600 x 1200. The Nexus is a different matter - timedemo results are slower without AA / AF and faster with AA / AF at both 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200. We ran all these tests 3 times and while there are very small variations between runs (1 to 3 fps), variations pretty much disappear as the graphical load gets heavier.

These facts lead us to an interesting conclusion: by comparing results from timedemo runs and gameplay testing sessions, we were able to pinpoint at what resolution the game (or a particular level) becomes graphically limited instead of system limited. In Data Processing Terminal, the crossover point is 1600 x 1200 without AA and AF. With AA and AF enabled, the crossover point happens a lot sooner for both levels - below 1024 x 768. The Nexus still remains system limited at 1600 x 1200 without AA and AF, but it too became graphics limited at 1024 x 768. As a quick performance test, we think a gameplay testing session on the Data Processing Terminal is still valid as a graphical benchmark because performance hit is still very high, though we had to admit the hit is higher than timedemo runs which means system limitations does add to the hit here. However, the frame rates we got from this method is closer to what you may actually see when you're playing the game - Quake 4 has a frame rate cap of 60 fps by default.

On the subject of representing the entire game (with a gameplay testing session), we think The Nexus is more representative than Data Processing Terminal. Frame rates are generally in line to what we saw through the entire game, particularly in levels that are graphically intensive, which sits nicely as a worst case scenario. Performance penalty hit rate is slightly different than timedemo runs, but close enough that any difference can be considered normal variations between runs. There are levels that have lower frame rates than The Nexus, but these levels are quite possibly system limited with our setup, so a faster processor than our Athlon 3500+ will be more useful in this case. For graphics cards, like F.E.A.R, we recommend a slightly higher clocked GeForce 7900GT / 7800GTX or Radeon X1900XTX / X1900XT and equivalent to play at our test settings at 1024 x 768, 4x AA and 16x AF. Higher resolutions is only recommended with faster graphics card(s).

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