Left 4 Dead: GPU and CPU benchmarks: Introduction
Like most of Valve's games since Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead uses the familiar Source Engine, which has been upgraded with new effects that are usually used in movies. Among those are the not unquestioned graining and a reduced set of colors. How those new features affect the graphics can be seen in our article: Left 4 Dead: Graphics settings compared.

Left 4 Dead: GPU and CPU benchmarks: Benchmark sequence
Our benchmark sequence "Final Battle” takes place in the last fight the characters have to survive. Due to masses of zombies the real-time demo mainly stresses the processor. But flames, dynamic shadows and detailed textures are also challenging for the graphics card - especially at high resolutions.

This benchmark is a worst-case scenario. If you have more than 50 fps here, then the rest of the game will run smooth.

Left 4 Dead: GPU and CPU benchmarks: Test system
• Motherboard: Intel X48 / AMD 790FX
• RAM: 2x 2,048 MiByte DDR2-800

CPUs
• Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (3.0 GHz, 12 MiByte L2 Cache)
• Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.0 GHz, 6 MiByte L2 Cache)
• Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4 GHz, 8 MiByte L2 Cache)
• Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.0 GHz, 4 MiByte L2 Cache)
• Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz, 4 MiByte L2 Cache)
• Pentium Dualcore E2160 (1.8 GHz, 1 MiByte L2 Cache)

• Phenom X4 9950 (2.6 GHz, 2 MiByte L2/L3 Cache)
• Phenom X4 9650 (2.3 GHz, 2 MiByte L2/L3 Cache)
• Phenom X3 8650 (2.3 GHz, 1,5 MiByte L2 Cache, 2 MiByte L3 Cache)
• Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (3.2 GHz, 1 MiByte, 1 MiByte L2 Cache)
• Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (2.6 GHz, 512 KiByte L2 Cache)
• Athlon 64 4000+ (2.6 GHz, 512 KiByte L2 Cache)
• Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0 GHz, 512 KiByte L2 Cache)

Graphics cards
(Clock speed: GPU/VRAM)
• Radeon HD 4870 (750/1,800 MHz, 512 MiByte)
• Radeon HD 4850 (625/993 MHz, 512 MiByte)
• Radeon HD 3870 X2 (2x 825/900 MHz, 2x 512 MiByte)
• Radeon HD 3870 (775/1,125 MHz, 512 MiByte)
• Radeon HD 3850 (669/830 MHz, 256 MiByte)
• Radeon X1900 XTX (650/775 MHz, 512 MiByte)

(Clock speed: GPU/Shader/VRAM)
• Geforce GTX 280 (602/1,296/1,107 MHz, 1,024 MiByte)
• Geforce GTX-260-216 (576/1,242/999 MHz, 896 MiByte)
• Geforce 9800 GTX+ (738/1,863/1,107 MHz, 512 MiByte)
• Geforce 9800/8800 GT (602/1,512/900 MHz, 512 MiByte)
• Geforce 8800 GTX (575/1,350/900 MHz, 512 MiByte)
• Geforce 7900 GTX (650/800 MHz, 512 MiByte)

Driver
• Geforce 180.43 Beta (default A.I. with VSync off)
• Catalyst 8.11 WQHL (default A.I. with VSync off)