Is I5 4200U Worth the gaming?

aakarshan

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Nov 29, 2013
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I planning to buy a Laptop now-a-days.After searching i have came to this processer- I5 4200U

I want to ask that this CPU is strong enough to do some gaming.

I found this review from notebookcheck.net _ http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Acer-Aspire-E1-572G-54204G75Mnkk-Notebook.99958.0.html

This is the excact configuaration that my laptop have HP http://www.snapdeal.com/product/hp-pavilion-15n004tx-laptop-4th/982013915

So I want to ask that is I5 4200U can do really gaming if it clock just 1.6Ghz to 2.6Ghz only?
and it scores very low on benchmarks also.
 
Solution
This CPU could be kind of relatively weak, but it depends on the applications. Basically any mobile CPU ending in U is an ultra-low power CPU with 15watt TDP. The low TDP is great for cooling and battery life. You can have a very light laptop that runs very long time on battery, but you pay for it with the performance. For example, the equivalent 35watt TDP CPU is called i5-4200M. It runs at 2.5GHz normally and +3GHz in turbo mode.

Now some games will run just fine on ULV models, if the laptop comes with a decent GPU and you reduce the resoltion to 720p or 1366x768. I have seen some benchmarks on notebookcheck with ULV i5 showing respectable scores. But like I said, this is not optimal. If you can find the model with 35watt CPU, that...
This CPU could be kind of relatively weak, but it depends on the applications. Basically any mobile CPU ending in U is an ultra-low power CPU with 15watt TDP. The low TDP is great for cooling and battery life. You can have a very light laptop that runs very long time on battery, but you pay for it with the performance. For example, the equivalent 35watt TDP CPU is called i5-4200M. It runs at 2.5GHz normally and +3GHz in turbo mode.

Now some games will run just fine on ULV models, if the laptop comes with a decent GPU and you reduce the resoltion to 720p or 1366x768. I have seen some benchmarks on notebookcheck with ULV i5 showing respectable scores. But like I said, this is not optimal. If you can find the model with 35watt CPU, that would be better. The ULV notebook is something thin and light, optimized to be convenient to be taken to Starbucks with you, but not necessarily playing games.


 
Solution
I have been using an Aspire E1-572G-6854 Since June 2014 mostly for gaming.

i5-4200u 1.6Ghz with turbo boost 2.6Ghz CPU
R7 M265 GPU
8 GB DDR3

Been running a lot of titles without any issues. Just dont expect to run every game at Ultra. But most games will run smoothly with 1366x768 resolution. You may have to play a bit with the overall graphic settings to get an optimal gaming experience for demanding games. With the Free Resident Evil 6 Benchmark tool on steam I get a score of 2982 giving me a "C" grade with the graphic set to maximum quality in 1366x768 resolution on Windows 10.

Having the price in mind for this laptop (600$ 2 years ago), and knowing that the i5-4200u wasn't build for gaming I would still say yes, the i5-4200u is strong enough for some decent gaming.