2nd gen i5 or 3rd gen i3?

[Komomu]

This laptop will be used for minecraft, pcsx2 aaand that'about it.

It doesnt make sense for me to get a gaming laptop since its way cheaper to get an uber pc and cheapish laptop

With the intel 4000 graphics, I know its a lot better than 3000 graphics, but will I need the i5 for pcsx2? or will it work well enough on the 3rd gen i3?

and yes, I'm putting in an ssd and 8gb of ram since ram is cheap and since I want it to be fast.

 

[esrever]

The i3 will be enough. Intel graphics suck for everything tho. Even the HD4000 is horrible quality and driver support.

 

[Komomu]

the intel is actually enough for running even the most demanding games, once overclocked, it can run crysis 2 on medium dude XD but I will have my gaming pc for the real gaming anyway, I just wanna run light games when i'm away from home

 

[austing]

This laptop will be used for minecraft, pcsx2 aaand that'about it.

It doesnt make sense for me to get a gaming laptop since its way cheaper to get an uber pc and cheapish laptop

With the intel 4000 graphics, I know its a lot better than 3000 graphics, but will I need the i5 for pcsx2? or will it work well enough on the 3rd gen i3?

and yes, I'm putting in an ssd and 8gb of ram since ram is cheap and since I want it to be fast.

85% of games only utilize 2 cores, so an i3 will be fine if your planning on skimping.

 

[thepeanutguy]

85% of games only utilize 2 cores, so an i3 will be fine if your planning on skimping.

Both the mobile i3 and i5 are dual core.

 

[austing]

Both the mobile i3 and i5 are dual core.

"so an i3 will be fine if your planning on skimping"

pls raed gooby.

 

[thepeanutguy]

"so an i3 will be fine if your planning on skimping"

pls raed gooby.

Eh, what?

It looked like you were implying the i5 has more than two cores. In any case, this doesn't matter.

Regarding OP; I'd go for the new i3. Better efficiency (but no turbo-core, resulting in poorer performance , albeit not by much).

 

[jaguarskx]

The only real difference between a mobile i3 and i5 is Turbo Boost; which overclocks the CPU by 600MHz if only one core is being used or by 400MHz if both cores are being used. That's assuming the CPU temp does not exceeds a certain temp.

Core i3 lacks Turbo Boost.

If you are relying on integrated graphics to play games, then you are better off with the 3rd gen Ivy Core i3 mobile CPU. Also, Ivy Bridge CPUs are about 5% on average more powerful than 2nd gen Sandy Bridge CPUs so an Ivy Bridge CPU running at 2.4GHz would be equivalent to a Sandy Bridge CPU running at 2.52GHz. Not a huge difference, but just something to be aware of.

 

[Komomu]

ooh nice, I think I might be able to get this http/tinyurl.com/c44xqbg and will add the 4gb ram, is it worth $80 to upgrade to 2gb gt630m from 1gb gt630m and from i3-2370m to i5-2450m, I know the 2gb won't help much unless I send it through to a hd screen but will the i5 be that much better?

 

[jaguarskx]

2GB on a graphics card is only necessary if you play games at higher than 1920x1200 resolution. The GT 630m is much too weak for that resolution unless you are willing to have everything set to low quality graphics. Even then performance will likely not be good.

However, the Core i5 can reach 3.1GHz with Turbo Boost if one core is being used or 2.9GHz if both cores are used. That could be a significant performance improvement.

 

[Komomu]

yea, I know about the gfx card, my main concern was the jump from 2nd gen i3 to 2nd gen i5

 

[jaguarskx]

I edited my response above.

 

[Komomu]

ah I see but for minecraft and pcsx2, would it be more beneficial spending that extra $80 in my upcoming rig?

(Yes I'm broke) XD

 

[jaguarskx]

I don't play minecraft or ps2 games so I don't know if spending $80 more for the Core i5 is worth it.

 

[Komomu]

ok lol, anybody have any experience with this?

 

[thepeanutguy]

ok lol, anybody have any experience with this?

The core i3 will be fast enough

 

[Komomu]

YAY! lol