Question Intel i7 3940XM vs i7-8750H

[HaterTot]

I am planning on buying my first gaming PC, and I have found two options on ebay within my price range: a stock Dell G5587 and a customized MSI GT60. The specs are very similar except for the CPUs. The XM on the MSI has a base frequency of 3.00 GHz and a max turbo frequency of 3.90 GHz. While the Dell's CPU has a considerably lower base frequency of 2.20 GHz, it has a higher max turbo frequency of 4.10 GHz. I was concerned by the fact that the turbo speeds given for the CPUs were described as "maximums," and I was wondering if someone with CPU knowledge/experience could tell me which CPU would have a higher average frequency in Turbo Boost mode.

 

[mdd1963]

You can pretty much ignore turbo clocks on an all-core gaming load scenario anyway, as laptops typically boost at least a few hundred MHz below that...

If you are interested in gaming, it's the provided graphics solution you should be most interested in, and to a much lesser degree the processor differences...

The MSI laptop has a GTX670M solution, it being from 2013 or so?...so unless you are playing games 5 years old, you might find yourself unable to play the newest games with acceptable framerates...

The Dell, if the specs I am seeing are correct, has a GTX1060 mobile solution, and should be vastly superior for gaming...

 

[Karadjgne]

Passmark :
I7-3940XM : 9221
I7-8750H : 12445

Youll also find that the 8750H has a much higher battery life overall, due to serious upgrades in efficiency and power usage/requirements vrs 7th gen and prior. It'll also run cooler.

Imho, there's really no comparison.

Turbo max is single core. Unless locked (and that's nearly impossible on most laptops), every other core will run at staggered lower speeds. So core #0 will be 4.1, core #1 will be 4.0 then 3.9, 3.8 etc. That's done to cut down on heat as more cores are brought in.

Base speeds usually only apply to very light loads, where maximum effort by the cpu isn't warranted. That'll be @ 30% loads or less. Like web browsing or playing MS Hearts etc. That cuts down on battery usage, cpu voltages not needing extremes, and cuts down on heat production.

Laptops are all about 2 things. Saving the battery and killing heat. Anything that can be done to make that happen, will.

 

[HaterTot]

Thank you guys very much. Given your feedback, it is clear the Dell is a better choice.