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    What is the difference in performance between the processors?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by iBioz, Dec 22, 2010.

  1. iBioz

    iBioz Newbie

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    I can get the R2 with i5-470UM, i5 520UM, or the i7 640UM. Is the upgrade from i5 520UM to i5-470UM or i7 640UM increase the performance in the m11x and is it worth the extra money (150$ CDN?
     
    iBioz, Dec 22, 2010
    #1
  2. Vidaluko

    Vidaluko Notebook Evangelist

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    It is worth the extra money? No, IMO no, but if you can get the i7, go for it, I would spend that money in other thing or in a SSD....
     
    Vidaluko, Dec 22, 2010
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  3. DrGoodvibes

    DrGoodvibes Notebook Deity

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    They're all low performance, lower power usage, dual core CPU compared to the i7-740QM and such like.
    But cause they're 'UM' variants, they do have good battery life.

    So in short you're attempting to compare cars with 1500cc and 1600cc engines and good petrol consumption when other people are driving 3500cc engined cars.. and grumbling about petrol prices. :)

    Mind you, we're talking about today's CPUs (cars) and they're way more powerful than those of yester-year.

    My C2D over-clocked SU7300 1.6Ghz (wPrime: 52sec) is TWICE as powerful as a Pentium IV single core, hyper-threaded 3.2Ghz processor (wPrime: 105sec).

    Compare i7-xxxUM with i5-xxxUM

    If you have the money buy the highest spec'd one, otherwise there's not a huge difference.

    I'm sure someone with an over-clocked i7-640UM and someone with an over-clocked i5-520UM could run wPrime 32M for you.

    Then at least you'd know the difference between CPUs when wPrime 32M is run.
    Of course this doesn't take into consideration a diverse range of CPU bound tasks but hay, we've still attempting to compare racing snails.... right?

    i7-xxxUM has a 4MB cache. i5-xxxUM has a 3MB cache, that's mostly what I think.
     
    DrGoodvibes, Dec 22, 2010
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  4. jeremyshaw

    jeremyshaw Big time Idiot

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    Yeah, not much difference. Even overclocked with TurboStop form UncleWebb @ NBR won't be enough to have the i7 pull far away from the top i5 option. It's like less than 200MHz difference, AFAIK.
     
    jeremyshaw, Dec 22, 2010
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  5. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    If you need better battery life, then get the R1, and spend that extra on an Intel SSD. I'm clocking in over 8 hours battery with the R1 and an Intel SSD (with Intel GPU, screen @ 30%, keyboard lighting off, light wi-fi use).
     
    HTWingNut, Dec 23, 2010
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  6. hikarate

    hikarate Notebook Consultant

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    On the other hand, the i7 gets noticeably hot under stress... Don't know about the i5?
     
    hikarate, Dec 23, 2010
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