How do you think this would perform in games? (Ultrabook config)

I'm interested in an ultrabook with a 1.7 GHz i5, 6GB RAM, and a 2GB nVidia 635M. I know this stuff isn't exactly a gamer's dream, but I'm not a total quality . I usually play light games like League of Legends, maybe a little Skyrim, and occasionally Battlefield. I don't mind not being able to run on high settings.

My only questions are...

- Do you think the processor will inhibit my ability to play games well? 1.7 GHz is a pretty low clock. I heard that it turbocharges closer to 2.3-2.5 when plugged in, but I'm not totally sure if that's just some gimmick or not.

- Will this config get outdated to play newer games and run newer things in a short period of time? I'm just scared that in a year or two this will start losing its ability to multitask and play new games (even on low settings)

- In general, how good do you think the 635M is?

If you could help me out, I'd appreciate it a lot. Thanks!

 

Which resolution? You don't need much to run most games at 1366x768 or 1280x720, but if you want to game at 1920x1080, I think you would run into difficulty with those specs for games like Skyrim and BF3.

 

Probably 1336 x 738 - the default resolution for the laptop. You think I could have moderate success with this laptop combined with the relatively slow processor and mid-level GPU?

 

It will run BF3 fine at low settings. The one thing with BF3 though is that it is more CORE hungry than CPU or GPU speed hungry. So a quad core will smooth things out, where a dual core, unless you can run it at 3GHz or higher, will stutter and stammer frequently, and it seems to do better with hyperthreading DISABLED which is weird because it likes more cores. Then again physical cores are a lot better (like 90% better) than any hyperthreading.

 

Just noticed this thread... and keep 1 thing in mind, if it's a ultrabook, then gaming on it for at least a hour or two will CRASH IT. It will reach very high temps and simply blue screen or turn off.

But good luck

 

not all ultrabooks have a thermal problem, and we are way past the threshold of BSOD because of heat, most things will downclock before of that if heat build up is an occurrence on that model

 

Yes, arent the Razer Blade and Samsung Series 7 Chronos technically ultrabooks as well? They are very thin, 22mm and 20.8mm, respectively, and both ship with Ivy Bridge quad core and excellent GPUs for gaming (Nvidia 660m and AMD 8870m). In any case I think it's probably a good idea to use a laptop cooler when gaming on any laptop.

 

The Samsung Series 7 Chronos 700Z5C's 3615QM seems to idle at 56~61C according to this site: 硬派效能機 Samsung Series 7 Chronos 700Z5C 實機測試 - Mobile01 本站新聞 but no GPU temp was mentioned.

It's an older model than the one showed up at 2013 CES but the design doesn't differ much, would be interesting if someone manages to bench the 8870M in the newer model, from the look it might really need a laptop cooler.