Desktop equivalents to Asus G73JH

I'm going to only be needing desktops now so I will be shedding the expense of buying a laptop every 2 years.

I just want to know how big of a performance difference there is between the mobility Radeon 5870 card and the equivalent desktop variation. I just want to build a desktop as good as the G73, with probably a better CPU since this one is 1.6.

Are laptop video cards intentionally weaker because of space/heating issues? OR if I build a desktop with a 5870 in it, will it be identical in performance? Is there any reason to use crossfire/sli for desktops yet?

And finally what about nvidia dedicated physX cards? Are they a gimmick (like having 32GB of RAM on a gaming computer) or are the legitimately worth the extra cost of a GPU in performance? I just want to know if I add the cost of 1 or 2 extra GPUs to the computer, will they add to the gaming performance that percentage of their cost vs. the cost of the entire system?

btw I am looking at cyberpowerpc as building my computer, but I might order the parts and do it myself if they seem to be milking the assembly cost vs. the shipping cost of individual parts.

also any passing thoughts on:

SATA 3 as far as video game recording / streaming
Hex core vs. quad core as far as gaming


I have never owned a desktop built for games, so I have zero clue on the performance gap. I just am noticing desktops have vastly higher numbers as far as CPU clocks go. I have always been gaming on laptops with 2.4 or less, and it seems like desktop standard is around 3.0

 

A mobility 5870 is a desktop 5670 equivalent if I'm not mistaken (or was it 5770?). They can't just put a desktop chip in it due to heal and power consumption. Nvidia 's GTX 5XX series is not just the PhysX that makes it good, they perform a tad faster compared to the same tier of ATI cards (not price tier). The 580 out performs 6970 by quiet a bit. The PhysX matters much when your CPU is weak (below 3.0GHz), if you overclock it shouldn't be much different if you use the CPU for PhysX (unless the game is very CPU consuming).

Quad-core i7 is more than enough for gaming (no game I know uses hexa-cores). SATA III does nothing for video game recording/streaming.

In terms of gap, it is like night and day for the same cost. My $1700 desktop, i7 930 @ 4.0GHz, GTX 480 beats my G73JH by almost 3 times the FPS in some games and almost always 2 times the frame rate. When I encode videos on this desktop, it takes a quarter of the time compared to the G73JH due to the much faster CPU.

If you're considering getting someone else to build your PC, it might be better to pick your own parts on newegg and pay them to build it. I find that most "pc builder" (pre-configured parts list for you to choose from), are not always ideal and sometimes costs more than if you just choose your own parts.

 

what does adding a small SSD do for a hard drive? like if you have a 2TB HD why is it beneficial to add like 40GB SSD?

 

I have a G73JH.

I also have a home-built desktop computer in the garage with the following specs;

Core2Duo 3GHz
ATI HD 5770 1GB
4GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz memory

That computer and my G73JH are consistently within 5% of each other on every benchmark tool I run. Games play virtually identical in smoothness and FPS.

This computer was built with hand-me-down parts and cheap used craigs list parts. I maybe have $300-350 into it.

You can build a desktop with G73JH performance for a fraction of the cost.

 

Fast boot time (20-30second (not counting POST)). More responsive application (no weird pauses when opening large text files). Every app loads faster. Not much benefit to game loading except for a few games (Fallout NV is one).

 

Laptops will never be able to get near what a desktop can offer in the way of power of price because of the mobility and pure good looks

The 5770 is comparable to the 5870M but compare the size difference and you realise why it cant push the power of the actual 5870.

Personally I had a desktop upto when they started bringing out laptops with dedicated graphics cards, I just like to be able to chill on my bed and surf/game and not have to sit at a desk with a monster of a machine.

Most desktops these days above 300-400GBP will be able to pull off what the top laptops can but if a laptop can run things at high with a good FPS there is no need for water cooling and a 4 SLI setup when you can have shmobility .

 

In a graphics card, are the important numbers the clock speed, memory, and stream processors?

if so, it seems as though the 6850 desktop would perform similarly to the mobility 5870.

however, I noticed the newest nvidia cards have incredibly low number of stream processors. so what makes them so good?

also, is the intel i7 CPU currently at a clear advantage over any AMD cpu at this point?

 

i7 1st gen and Sandybridge outclass their AMD equivalent, but with the upcoming Bulldozer, things might not be the same then. As for what makes a GPU faster, you simply have to rely on benchmarks. There's way too many factors, even the same brand. The only time you can compare the Clock Speed is when they both use the same GPU (GTX 580 vs another GTX 580, etc). Your best bet is benchmarks. Also, if I'm not mistaken, AMD GPUs don't even have stream processors. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

XFX Radeon HD 6850 Review | bit-tech.net

this site I used to find info, and it shows stream processors on radeons

so as long as I compare GPU benchmark using the same game and same settings, thats the best way to measure performance?

 

Yes.

 

i7 720Qm is a Nehalem microarchitecture. Closest probably would the a very underclocked i5 750 desktop. The HD5870M is a Juniper architecture, closest is a underclocked HD5770. The 1333 DDR3 should be the same. The 7200 HDDs on laptop are a little slower than their desktop equivalents. The LCD while it has amazing contrast and color accuracy, overall brightness is poor. Desktop would have around 300 nits, this is like 200.