Core i3-2330m

[ferny111]

So, I am not quite sure where to put this, under laptops or cpu, so i decided to see if this is the right spot. Anyways, I was wondering, would this puppy be able to game or would that be a pointless pursuit? I know everyone says that the intel HD 3000 graphics are poop compared to what AMD offers, but there is a laptop I wanted to buy with an i3-2330m processor. To be honest, it will mostly be used for school and such, but, occasionally, games shall be played on it as I dislike lugging my desktop to LAN parties. I am not looking for stellar performance, just something that will let me play, let's say, L4D2, HL2, D3 (5 moar days!!!.....), Original SC, TF2, indie games such as Anamoly, Bastion and Orcs Must Die, and maybe even more extensive games like SC2, AVP, and Batman: AS. The laptop I am looking at is a Lenovo B570 and has 4GB of DDR3-1333Mhz with one extra slot and supports up to 8GB (will probably upgrade it), Windows Home 64-bit, native resolution is 1366x768 and I guess the rest doesn't make too much of a difference? Know it is quite a bit to read, but thanks to all your replies Also, my price range is under $400 (this thing is a $350 refurb model from futureshop)

 

[rds1220]

So, I am not quite sure where to put this, under laptops or cpu, so i decided to see if this is the right spot. Anyways, I was wondering, would this puppy be able to game or would that be a pointless pursuit? I know everyone says that the intel HD 3000 graphics are poop compared to what AMD offers, but there is a laptop I wanted to buy with an i3-2330m processor. To be honest, it will mostly be used for school and such, but, occasionally, games shall be played on it as I dislike lugging my desktop to LAN parties. I am not looking for stellar performance, just something that will let me play, let's say, L4D2, HL2, D3 (5 moar days!!!.....), Original SC, TF2, indie games such as Anamoly, Bastion and Orcs Must Die, and maybe even more extensive games like SC2, AVP, and Batman: AS. The laptop I am looking at is a Lenovo B570 and has 4GB of DDR3-1333Mhz with one extra slot and supports up to 8GB (will probably upgrade it), Windows Home 64-bit, native resolution is 1366x768 and I guess the rest doesn't make too much of a difference? Know it is quite a bit to read, but thanks to all your replies Also, my price range is under $400 (this thing is a $350 refurb model from futureshop)

What games are you trying to play? I have a I3 2330-M and it more the graphics that seem to limit gaming more than the actual CPU. Still though for an I3 dual core with hyper threading it does prettyt good in gaming I'm happy with it.

 

[ferny111]

Well, I am looking at games such has Left for Dead 2, Half Life 2, Dead Space, indie games such as Orcs Must Die and Bastion, and more recent games such as Diablo 3. Not looking to play these games maxed out, but low to medium details, no shadows, maybe 2x AA, but nothing extensive

 

[jaguarskx]

You should not have any problem with L4D2 or HL2. Any game using the Source Engine from HL2 will be able to run on a HD 3000.

I have tested the HD 3000 in my laptop (Lenovo IdeaPad Y470) and found it is able to Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 2 quite well given the limited performance of that graphic core. Fallout: New Vegas should be playable as well.

Based on some benchmarks I've seen StarCraft 2 can played on low settings so I assume you will be able to play Diablo 3 with low settings as well.

 

[amuffin]

Should run them with LOW details, the desktop HD 3000 does suprisingly well. However, I am not sure if the mobile HD 3000 is different than the desktop one.

 

[lilotimz]

mobile HD3000 is slower clocked than the desktop ones iirc.

 

[amuffin]

Less than 850mhz...oh man When you get the laptop check in bios to see if you can maximize the amount of shared memory.

 

[ferny111]

Hmmm, well, I may go ahead with the purchase then. Diablo 3 is supposed to have low end computer friendly settings and if this thing can power steam games, then I am content. I do believe there may be some minor differences between the desktop and laptop versions of the hd 3000 integrated graphics, but don't quote me on that.

 

[ferny111]

Can be clocked as low as 650 Mhz

 

[amuffin]

How about wait a bit longer till you have more money and newer hardware comes out?

 

[lilotimz]

Just saying.. lenovo's usually don't let you mess around much in the bios.

 

[amuffin]

Yep I know that...

 

[lilotimz]

Usually Asus laptops have IGPUs or dedicated GPU's that are fairly close to the manufacturing specs. Lenovos are usually under clocked from my understanding.

 

[ferny111]

Okay, guess I shall save up then /the new Ivy bridge processors are coming out so hopefully some of the laptops will see a price drop in the near future

 

[ferny111]

Best answer selected by ferny111.

 

[amuffin]

Intel HD 4000 igpu on laptop should be much better, well since you can't OC IGP on Laptop.

 

[ferny111]

Yeah, I will probably hold out until the new ivy bridge laptop based cpus come out. Hopefully we get a couple Q3 and Q4 of this year