The multi-core optimizations Bioware integrated into the Eclipse Engine come into full effect: The Intel Q6600 is 75 percent faster than the E6600 (which runs at the same frequency) and the Q9650 beats the E8400 by about 70 percent. Furthermore Dragon age: Origins seems to be running smoother on a multi-core, too, and especially the streaming system seems to benefit. Even overclocked to 3.6 GHz the E8400 can't surpass the Q6600 while AMD's triple-core Phenom II X3 720 BE can do it. But more than three cores aren't used often by the game. The Phenom II X4 only benefits from its higher clock speed. Intel's Q9650 is slightly faster than AMD's top model, but is beaten by the smallest Nehalem, the Core i5-750. The Lynnfield is beaten by the Q6600 overclocked to 3.6 GHz (400x9 with DDR2-1200) and the Phenom II X4 965 BE with 3.95 GHz. At this frequency the latter one is about as fast as the Core i7-860 running at 2.4 GHz. A Core i7-920 overclocked to 3.5 GHz dominates the competition. All in all Dragon Age: Origins seems to prefer Intel processors.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...ores/Practice/