Solved! I7-2630QM or i7-2620M

[tarus]

Hello,

I'm shopping for new laptop for mid-core gaming and I can't decide which CPU I should get. i7-2630QM or i7-2620M? Which CPU is better when equiped with Radeon HD 6770M? Please help! Thank you!

2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz

vs

2nd generation Intel(R) Dual Core(TM) i7-2620M (2.7GHz, 4MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz


Everything else is the same for the laptop and same price. Spec as listed below:

* Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6770M Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
* 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
* 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 5.5 hours of battery life +++
* 15.6" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366x768)
* SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
* HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
* Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN with Wireless Display Support

Thank you for you help!

 

[WR2]

Hello tarus;

A lot will depend on what game you're talking about. Does it have good multi-threading support for quad core CPUS?
For example, BF:BC2 is known to be quad core friendly but WoW:Cataclysm - not so much.

Overall, across many games, the performance should be close if the graphics card is the same.

Intel Core i7-2620M review
Intel Core i7-2630QM review

 

[tarus]

Hi WR2,

Thank you for the reply.

Right now I'm playing Final Fantasy XIV the most and Sims 3 and Dragon Age II.

I don't know anything about multi-threading support, any suggestion?

Thank you!

 

[WR2]

It looks like the i7-2630QM might be your best bet based on the DA2 requrirements.

Dragon Age 2
Final Fantasy XIV
Sims 3: Generations

AMD Radeon HD 6770M: Roughly equal with a Mobility HD 5850 GPU.
Just a bit weak for the FFIV System Requirements but good for DA2 and Sim 3: Generations.

Passmark GPU scores:
Mobility Radeon HD 5850 = 977 (laptop card)
Radeon HD 6650M = 593 (laptop card)

GeForce 8800 GTS 512 = 1008 (desktop card)
GeForce GTS 250 = 1069
Radeon HD 5670 = 1247 (desktop card)