I7 720qm vs i5 540m for GAMING

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Necessary Evil

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Hello everyone!!! I am going to buy a laptop exclusively for GAMING with a high end card for graphics! Am getting 2 processor options to buy from. Which processor should i buy? (money difference is not an issue):-

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-540M processor (2.53GHz, 3MB L2 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.06 GHz

OR

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz???

I mean of course i7 is superior to i5 and also has 6MB L2 Cache compared to 3MB in i5 but look at the GHz -

i5 = 2.53 wiith boost to 3.06 and i7 = 1.6 with boost to 2.8......What am i missing guys??? Also the i7 costs quite a few bucks more than the i5!

Unfortunately i havent seen any benchmarks comparing these 2 processors in terms of gaming! Im aware of the hyperthreading and the difference in the number of cores...but im speaking about real life performance.

Which of the above 2 should be better for GAMING IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE considering the same GPU alongside? I am not into photoshop, editing or 3D stuff, just some basic ms office, movies and such simple stuffs. Also keeping in mind that since this is a laptop i wont be getting much options for upgrading in future! i plan to keep this one for 4 years!

Waiting for your help!!!



 
Solution
enzo matrix
If your only graphics options are the 5830 or the 4670 get the dual core i5. It's cheaper and will not be any worse in gaming... maybe even better with current games. But really by the time games really start using more cores better, your graphics card will be the bottleneck in your system not the CPU. Besides, it still has hyperthreading for the possible future.

You say 4670 or 5830? get the 5830.

If you plan to keep it for 4 years, a 4670 will not cut it at all. On the other hand with a 5830 I predict in 4 years you will be able to run the most modern games at minimum settings at 800x600.
Just per example I have a radeon 3870 (desktop) and I can run cryostasis, a modern high demanding game, on low settings at 800x600. That card is...
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ohh, i am a complete noob in electronics so never knew the GPU config was important here! ill mention the other configs!
The other configs are:-

1) ATI MOBILITY RADEON 5830 OR 4670
2) 4 GB DDR3 RAM 1066
3) 320/500GB 7200RPM HARD DRIVE
 
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With gaming, the graphics card is usually more important that the CPU.



If the temperature of the CPU gets too high, Turbo Boost will not turn on and you will be left with a stock processor.

As far as gaming performance goes, it's going to depend on the titles you play. Some games cannot take advantage of more than one or two processor cores. If that is the case, then the higher clocked dual core will perform better. However, if the game can take advantage of all four cores on the i7-720, then it will be the better chip.

Also note that the i5 will be better on battery life than the i7 will since the i5 uses less power and is built on a smaller manufacturing process.
 
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So that means:-

1) with i7 720qm if only 2 cores are active it will run at a max clock speed of 2.398 GHz, while in i5 540m when 2 cores are active its running at 2.53 GHz :??:

2) with i7 fully turboboosted and hyperthreaded at 4 cores, it is running at a max of 2.8 GHz, while a similar full automation of i5 540m gives it a clock speed of 3.06 GHz. :heink:

3) Also the i5 is cheaper than i7 😱

4) battery life is better in i5! 😱 😱

4) only thing is i7 is 4 cores which can mimick 8 (in laymans terms) while an i5 is a dual core which can be hyperthreaded to seem like a quad core :sol: .....but in the next few years to come with the i5 released simultaneous with the i7, theres hardly any chance of some game which will run only on i7 and not on i5 😗 .... performance wise in terms of GAMING, at least as of now i5 540m will perform better than i7 720qm :sarcastic: ...only thing is in future if there is some game like "crysis 4" or "left for dead 10" which will use more than a quad core, then i7 will perform better than i5 :sarcastic: :sarcastic: ....AM I RIGHT GUYS? if i am i dont understand why gamers would run after an underclocked i7 over a better clocked i5? :ouch: in fact theres a thread here in tomsharedware comparing the i5 540m with i7 720qm where the best answer chosen was "BEG BORROW OR STEAL, BUT GET AN i7"! :bounce: :bounce:
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
 
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If your only graphics options are the 5830 or the 4670 get the dual core i5. It's cheaper and will not be any worse in gaming... maybe even better with current games. But really by the time games really start using more cores better, your graphics card will be the bottleneck in your system not the CPU. Besides, it still has hyperthreading for the possible future.

You say 4670 or 5830? get the 5830.

If you plan to keep it for 4 years, a 4670 will not cut it at all. On the other hand with a 5830 I predict in 4 years you will be able to run the most modern games at minimum settings at 800x600.
Just per example I have a radeon 3870 (desktop) and I can run cryostasis, a modern high demanding game, on low settings at 800x600. That card is nearly 3 years old. It was below the 8800s from nvidia that were the best at the time. A 4670 performs worse than a 3870, especially a laptop version.
 
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Solution


thanks enzo....that was of immense help....just 2 more questions.....

1) if the mobile 5830 is not good enough...do u suggest any better alternative in terms of GPU for laptop which should keep me futureproofed for longer...i dont want my gpu to be bottlenecked too soon????

2) and i5 540m is the way to go at the moment...better than the T9600, core2quad and the i7 720QM??? of course the i8 would hv been better but it costs too high for my liking and budget!
 
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ohh ***....looks like i overestimated it too...im going to buy something else...atleast not the 32nd ranked card! i hope though that this rating is authentic...coz i dont see any benchmarking figures...i guess wait and watch it would be!!!
 
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well, i do have a gaming rig...but most of the time im out ... to different places, so was thinking of a suitable mobile alternative!!!

 
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n
n
nI am also about to buy a laptop, and thinking of the asus G73JH-A1, was kind of curious which computer you got?
 
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The one thing not being pointed out is the cache , and why it's important to factor in here.

If you really want to get to the bottom of this war between less cores , with higher clock rates , and vice versa . Heres how to look at it , without having to go into too much technical details here .

Cache - for every megabyte of cache that one CPU has over another , as long as there technologies are similar - add about 100-125MHz in processing speed.

example.. a 2.6ghz 2core CPU 3Mb cache vs a 1.6ghz 4core CPU 8Mb cache . The 1.6 has 5mb extra cache , so 5x100 = 500mhz , making the 1.6 run around 2.1

2.6 x 2 cores = 5.2ghz processing power
2.1 x 4 cores = 8.4ghz processing power

- a quick way to explain this is .... the cache handles the info needing to be processed by the CPU , so the more cache , the more simultaneous processing can happen - this translates to a speed increase at lower ghz.

The biggest thing to keep in mind here is that most applications are still using a single core - and only 15-20% of games on the market can utilize multiple cores. So this entire conversation comes down to which exact software your going to be using most. For a majority of people the Corei5 will be a much better choice for 85% of all computing . But if your wanting to run the 15% of appz out there that use multiple cores - like some video editing software , photo editing software , or those few choice high end games - go for the i7.

Hope this helps :)

BL Joe.com
BorderLineProductions
 
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