Is CPU crucial for notebook gaming?

Hello all,

I'm a n00b around here, so excuse me for asking this very simple question.

I'm wondering how CPU (clockspeed, core count, IPC) affect gaming on notebooks. I understand that GPU is still very crucial in having a smooth game play. But since most notebooks out there do not carry a strong GPU that allows users to go over 1280 x 1024, so does CPU also affect gameplay?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

If you mean: "Does the CPU take some of the workload off of the weak mobile GPU's?", then the answer is a resounding: "No".

However, a stronger CPU will allow you to play games at higher physics settings.

For example, with my current 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo, My lowest FPS is 16FPS (during Nuke drops) with Physics all turned down to LOW in World in Conflict, but at HIGH, it drops down sharply to 9. Average is 26FPS for LOW, and 21FPS for HIGH physics.

So, it does matter a bit for gaming--but if you don't mind having low physics interaction in your games, it shouldn't matter all too much, just turn Physics down to Low. After all, I'm not noticing any differences between High and Low physics settings, quite honestly...

 

I would also like to add that cpu + ram have a noticable effect on games that have load times / screens between maps or acts. Like the witcher for example. Nice brand new game but people have been complaining about the unusually long load times. Cpus help with issues like these but like triple already stated, they don't overly affect fps like a gpu does as far as graphics are concerned.

Basically, anything that has to be computed (map/act/zone loads and physics, and even weather effects) depend on cpu. Anything that has to be drawn is all by the gpu.

 

No matter which game you play, a faster CPU will ALWAYS improve performance and increase FPS.

Is it worth buying a super expensive CPU for gaming when you don't have a super fast GPU already? No

 

I think he is talking about how gaming at a lower resolution will often be bounded by CPU...

 

I think we should find him the tomshardware benchmarks of cpu's for gaming... but I dont think they had mobile cpu's in it...

What CPU will bottleneck the GPU could be a good starting point here...

 

It depends on the game, as well. Some strategy games, as well as some FPS games with many bots, are far more limited by the CPU than the GPU. If you list which games you play, deciding whether the CPU is important will be a much more accurate process.

 

Games like Strategic Commander will be CPU heavy mainly because of all the units and their AI. But most FPS's are more GPU dependent, but need a CPU powerful enough to push the basic numbers for the GPU.

 

Simple answer: Notebook CPU's aren't the bottlenecks in gaming, GPU's are.

 

So, in my case, it's not the cpu(c2d t5500) that's getting me lag in ut3 despite the fact that the fps is decent(around 30-40) , but the gpu(x1700 64 bit), right?

 

exactly, only in 8800 gtx cases will the cpu be the bottleneck (unless you have some monster quad core processor)

 

Except a faster CPU will always improve performance. A faster GPU will also always improve performance no matter which CPU you have. Therefore there is no true bottleneck.

So

 

I believe that lag might be caused by 1GIG of RAM you have.

 

Thank you for everyone's prompt reply.

I was just wondering if CPU will contribute a lot in notebook gaming, since most of the time gaming resolution don't exceed 1280 x 1024. I believe most games are played at 1024 x 768, where CPU's performance is very crucial.

But I guess since games take more toll on GPU than CPU, then having a relatively slow CPU (T5600), can still run games smoothly providing it is paired with a strong graphic card (8600GTS).