So here we have these new dual-core processors flying off the shelves, with a huge amount of untapped ability, and users everywhere, including gamers, eating them up. It only makes sense that software makers, like game developers, would create a patch to allow their products to run at a higher level on SMP systems. Not only that, but whoever created such a patch first would stand to be heavily supported by dual-core users everywhere.

First out of the block was id Software with their 1.0.5 beta patch for Quake 4. Quake 4, as you probably know, is a pretty graphic intensive game. However, it is not always, and in high-end systems certainly not usually, graphics power that hinders a computer’s performance in the game. Many older games and some newer ones, Quake 4 included, are what we call “CPU Limited”. This means that the frame rates you score in a certain game are determined more by your processor than your video card. Obviously, coding a game like this to take advantage of the extra processing power of an SMP system will greatly increase your system’s performance.

id developed their patch through working with Intel and Ravensoft. The official statement included with the patch release reveals the following:

25% - 87%!?!?!? That sure is a bold statement there. A 25% performance increase is usually only obtained by putting a significant overclock on your system components. The claim that such an increase could be obtained by simply installing a patch is a stretch to say the least, and certainly creates reason to be questioned.

The next developer to release an SMP patch was Infinity Ward, when they released their 1.01 patch for Call of Duty 2. CoD 2 is considered by many, including myself, to be the most visually impressive game currently available. Everything from the map detail to the volumetric haze created by smoke grenades, the game is by all accounts very taxing on your system. If a developer could create a patch to let a computer's processor be used more effectively and offload certain physics and netcode calculations to another core, the resulting increase in performance for such a demanding game would probably be tremendous. The joint statement from Infinity Ward, Activision, and Intel is as follows:


Notice that this statement does not make any forward-looking claims about the quantitative benefits of the patch. The only way to get an idea for the performance increases from the SMP patch is to run some tests.