LLVMpipe Performance On AMD Bulldozer, Intel Sandy Bridge

Running the OpenArena game at 640 x 480 can be semi-playable for both systems, but at more resolutions that are appropriate there is a noticeable slowdown. The FX-8150 LLVMpipe performance was about 30% faster than the Core i7 2630QM.

World of Padman performed similarly, as would be expected for this fellow ioquake3-based game. The LLVMpipe results in full can be viewed on OpenBenchmarking.org.

LLVMpipe isn't fast enough for real OpenGL gaming on the CPU with modern processors and dated games, but should provide a fluid experience for desktops. When I am back to my office there will be more LLVMpipe tests, including a try of LLVMpipe on Fedora Rawhide with the GNOME Shell. I will also see whether with the latest code Unity / Compiz can work on this software fallback.