Is a 4th gen intel processor bad?

[kir13y]

So I am looking for a new gaming laptop and I have the choice for a 4th gen intel with higher base clock or 6th gen with a lower base clock. Which should I get?

 

[timeconsumer]

They are both perfectly fine processors and will make very little difference. I would probably choose the cheaper one. But could you provide us with the model numbers just in case?

 

[dudeman509]

Which two specific CPUs?

 

[kir13y]

I really like how the asus ROG laptops look and I am deciding between these two: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232602&cm_re=asus_rog-_-34-232-602-_-Product & http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232766&cm_re=asus_rog-_-34-232-766-_-Product

 

[kir13y]

So those have very different specs and very different prices

 

[timeconsumer]

Not much difference. I'd take the cheaper one, it comes with a bigger SSD too.

 

[AkhilM]

To be honest, I would get the cheaper one. There is barely any gain in going with skylake except ddr4 which is practically useless for gaming. You can easily upgrade to windows 10 from the G751JT-DB73, which I would highly recommend due to dx12. Hope this helps!
-am

 

[kir13y]

What exactally is the differenct between 6th gen and 4th gen?

 

[kir13y]

And then one final thing. Is the cheaper one a pretty good deal for the specs? If not could you recommend a better one? Thanks for all the help so far!!

 

[dudeman509]

What exactally is the differenct between 6th gen and 4th gen?

Smaller architecture, very slightly more efficient instructions per clock cycle, DDR4 vs DDR3 support, lower TDP (less heat), better battery life (doubt it will be great on a 4-core i7 anyway).

There is very little difference in performance between the two, not enough to justify the price increase you're seeing there.

 

[kir13y]

What exactally is the differenct between 6th gen and 4th gen?

Smaller architecture, very slightly more efficient instructions per clock cycle, DDR4 vs DDR3 support, lower TDP (less heat), better battery life (doubt it will be great on a 4-core i7 anyway).

There is very little difference in performance between the two, not enough to justify the price increase you're seeing there.

Alright, thanks! I was getting a bit concerned when I realized that they are already on gen 6!

 

[AkhilM]

Skylake is not really worth the upgrade, higher memory bandwidth provided by ddr4 will not have much effect on gaming, and is directed more towards businesses.

 

[kir13y]

What about for "future proofing"? Will the skylake last me longer?

 

[hst101rox]

Newer one has a smaller battery; 66wh versus 88wh while still saying 'up to 4 hours' battery life. Interesting the new one weighs more still but seems thinner. Can have up to 32GB of RAM on the old one, 64GB on new. PCIexpress m.2 on the new I think and mSATA for the old. Not a big deal.

 

[AkhilM]

Well, it is a laptop so you won't really be able to upgrade anything. Honestly, the bandwidth difference is marginal, and devs wont ever optimize specifically for Skylake. If you really wan't to get the more expensive one, go for it! But for gaming, there will be no difference. (If you are willing to spend the money for the Skylake, I recommend to instead go with a better GPU ROG laptop, such as the 980m).

 

[kir13y]

Well, it is a laptop so you won't really be able to upgrade anything. Honestly, the bandwidth difference is marginal, and devs wont ever optimize specifically for Skylake. If you really wan't to get the more expensive one, go for it! But for gaming, there will be no difference. (If you are willing to spend the money for the Skylake, I recommend to instead go with a better GPU ROG laptop, such as the 980m).

I have a spending cap of $1400 so if there is one with the 980m could you send a link?

 

[AkhilM]

If another 100 dollars is too much (The 980m is a top of the line gpu), then I'd say go with the 970m. It is Black Friday so I bet you could find some nice deals if you hunt. For 1,500 here is an option: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232849&cm_re=980m_laptop_ROG-_-34-232-849-_-Product

 

[kir13y]

Maybe I'll just get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232863&cm_re=asus_rog-_-34-232-602-_-Product and buy a 980 for my desktop. Will that laptop be able to play games like CSGO and rocket league on max settings?

 

[Karadjgne]

For gaming purposes, you'll not need more than 16Gb of ram. SSDs don't have enough impact in games to warrant an NVMe M.2 SSD, a normal SSD is just fine. With on-die memory controllers taking a big chunk out of ram speeds and timings importance, there's little difference between lower speed ddr4 and higher speed ddr3 performance, especially in games.

And it's a laptop. So options are limited anyways. As long as the cpu can handle the gpu you want, hats all that really matters. Go for cheaper. It leaves room for extras like cooling pads, mice, bags, spare battery etc

 

[kir13y]

For gaming purposes, you'll not need more than 16Gb of ram. SSDs don't have enough impact in games to warrant an NVMe M.2 SSD, a normal SSD is just fine. With on-die memory controllers taking a big chunk out of ram speeds and timings importance, there's little difference between lower speed ddr4 and higher speed ddr3 performance, especially in games.

And it's a laptop. So options are limited anyways. As long as the cpu can handle the gpu you want, hats all that really matters. Go for cheaper. It leaves room for extras like cooling pads, mice, bags, spare battery etc

Alright. Im planning to put the extra saved $300 towards a 980 for my desktop.

 

[hst101rox]

Well, it is a laptop so you won't really be able to upgrade anything. Honestly, the bandwidth difference is marginal, and devs wont ever optimize specifically for Skylake. If you really wan't to get the more expensive one, go for it! But for gaming, there will be no difference. (If you are willing to spend the money for the Skylake, I recommend to instead go with a better GPU ROG laptop, such as the 980m).

Some laptops do have an upgradable GPU, like the MSI GT60(I think), GT70, GT72, GT80. RAM, hard drive just about always. optical drive (if applicable) is likley, like going from DVD to a bluray writer. Sometimes you can upgrade the screen.
CPU, in the past, sometimes, skylake, not really.

 

[kir13y]

Well, it is a laptop so you won't really be able to upgrade anything. Honestly, the bandwidth difference is marginal, and devs wont ever optimize specifically for Skylake. If you really wan't to get the more expensive one, go for it! But for gaming, there will be no difference. (If you are willing to spend the money for the Skylake, I recommend to instead go with a better GPU ROG laptop, such as the 980m).

Some laptops do have an upgradable GPU, like the MSI GT60(I think), GT70, GT72, GT80. RAM, hard drive just about always. optical drive (if applicable) is likley, like going from DVD to a bluray writer. Sometimes you can upgrade the screen.
CPU, in the past, sometimes, skylake, not really.

So do you think I should get a 5th or 6th gen cpu and worse gpu (960m) or should I get the 4th gen cpu with the better gpu (970m). Here is the links to the laptops: 6th gen, 4th gen. I guess what I am asking is: which laptop of these two has the better value?

 

[AkhilM]

Well, it is a laptop so you won't really be able to upgrade anything. Honestly, the bandwidth difference is marginal, and devs wont ever optimize specifically for Skylake. If you really wan't to get the more expensive one, go for it! But for gaming, there will be no difference. (If you are willing to spend the money for the Skylake, I recommend to instead go with a better GPU ROG laptop, such as the 980m).

Some laptops do have an upgradable GPU, like the MSI GT60(I think), GT70, GT72, GT80. RAM, hard drive just about always. optical drive (if applicable) is likley, like going from DVD to a bluray writer. Sometimes you can upgrade the screen.
CPU, in the past, sometimes, skylake, not really.

So do you think I should get a 5th or 6th gen cpu and worse gpu (960m) or should I get the 4th gen cpu with the better gpu (970m). Here is the links to the laptops: 6th gen, 4th gen. I guess what I am asking is: which laptop of these two has the better value?

For gaming, the 4th gen will destroy the 6700HQ model. CPU's don't play a huge role in gaming. Plus, the 970m is cheaper! I really don't see many applications in which the Skylake chip and ddr4 will benefit you at all. However, do note that the Haswell (4th gen) notebook has some networking problems, as seen in the review.

 

[kir13y]

Well, it is a laptop so you won't really be able to upgrade anything. Honestly, the bandwidth difference is marginal, and devs wont ever optimize specifically for Skylake. If you really wan't to get the more expensive one, go for it! But for gaming, there will be no difference. (If you are willing to spend the money for the Skylake, I recommend to instead go with a better GPU ROG laptop, such as the 980m).

Some laptops do have an upgradable GPU, like the MSI GT60(I think), GT70, GT72, GT80. RAM, hard drive just about always. optical drive (if applicable) is likley, like going from DVD to a bluray writer. Sometimes you can upgrade the screen.
CPU, in the past, sometimes, skylake, not really.

So do you think I should get a 5th or 6th gen cpu and worse gpu (960m) or should I get the 4th gen cpu with the better gpu (970m). Here is the links to the laptops: 6th gen, 4th gen. I guess what I am asking is: which laptop of these two has the better value?

For gaming, the 4th gen will destroy the 6700HQ model. CPU's don't play a huge role in gaming. Plus, the 970m is cheaper! I really don't see many applications in which the Skylake chip and ddr4 will benefit you at all. However, do note that the Haswell (4th gen) notebook has some networking problems, as seen in the review.

Alright! I will be getting the cheaper better one! 😀 Thank you for all of your help!!

 

[AkhilM]

Well, it is a laptop so you won't really be able to upgrade anything. Honestly, the bandwidth difference is marginal, and devs wont ever optimize specifically for Skylake. If you really wan't to get the more expensive one, go for it! But for gaming, there will be no difference. (If you are willing to spend the money for the Skylake, I recommend to instead go with a better GPU ROG laptop, such as the 980m).

Some laptops do have an upgradable GPU, like the MSI GT60(I think), GT70, GT72, GT80. RAM, hard drive just about always. optical drive (if applicable) is likley, like going from DVD to a bluray writer. Sometimes you can upgrade the screen.
CPU, in the past, sometimes, skylake, not really.

So do you think I should get a 5th or 6th gen cpu and worse gpu (960m) or should I get the 4th gen cpu with the better gpu (970m). Here is the links to the laptops: 6th gen, 4th gen. I guess what I am asking is: which laptop of these two has the better value?

For gaming, the 4th gen will destroy the 6700HQ model. CPU's don't play a huge role in gaming. Plus, the 970m is cheaper! I really don't see many applications in which the Skylake chip and ddr4 will benefit you at all. However, do note that the Haswell (4th gen) notebook has some networking problems, as seen in the review.

Alright! I will be getting the cheaper better one! 😀 Thank you for all of your help!!

No problem at all! Before you buy, do read up on why each product has some poor reviews. There appears to be a networking issue (easy fix with a new wifi card, make sure its compatible as some brands like hp only whitelist a few cards).