Samsung DDR3 vs HP GDDR5 (help deciding)

Hi Guys,
I´m deciding between two mid-level gaming laptops (Samsung NP500 vs HP DV4). Both have a GT650M but the HP branded has GDDR5 while the Samsung has DDR3. I understand there is a 20% of improvement with the GDDR5, but the HP laptop I´m watching has 3 USB ports while the Samsung has 4. Besides, I remember HP being one of the worst laptops made (after Acer, they were the ones with the highest rate of hardware failure a couple of years ago). Samsung is a new brand, but it seems alright and since they are starting in the market, they might want to do it with good quality stuff, as opposed to HP that already has a piece of the market (and as I said, did so poorly 2 years ago). Besides, I´m thinking that at 1366x768 resolution, memory bandwith might not be that important (?).
In my country those are my only two options. The Samsung NP500 has 1 Tb of HD while the HP has 650 Gb, and the later is $40 more expensive, but these are really a minor details. I´m mostly interested in gaming performance and hardware quality.
So, what do you guys think?
Thanks a lot for your advices.

 

At 768p, you would probably not have THAT much of a bottleneck but you would probably still be limited by the slower GDDR3 memory. I'd suggest getting the card with the faster memory.

Also, you could, at some point, purchase an external monitor that has a higher resolution and there, the slower memory would hurt you so I would suggest you get the Samsung.

Finally, do you really have more than 3 USB devices connected to your laptop? You could do away with an external hub. I don't think fewer USB ports is a reason to choose one laptop over another unless that is the ONLY thing separating the two.

 

Thanks Maverick1989,
What about the brand. Do you trust HPs over Samsungs?

Also, the HP is a bit bigger (about half inch) a bit thicker and heavier. I have a gaming desktop, so this laptop I want it for gaming out of home (so I don´t think I´ll buy a monitor in the future). You are right about the USB ports though. I´m doubting the HP mostly because is a HP.

I read this somewhere else, what are the opinions?:

"DDR3 version only got 28.8GB/s memory bandwidth, but default core clock speed already hit 835MHz, can be boost until 950MHz
GDDR5 version got 64.0GB/s memory bandwidth, but default core clock speed only 745MHz, can be boost until 885MHz
And pixel filtrate and texture filtrate of DDR3 version is higher than GDDR5 version(which is 13.4GPixel/s, 26.7GTexel/s VS 11.9 GPixel/s, 23.8GTexel/s)"

 

At 1366x768 there will be pretty much no noticeable perfomance difference between DDR3 and GDDR5. Higher resolutions, yes, but it will likely be the difference of ~ 10-15% framerate (i.e. 30 fps DDR3 = 33FPS GDDR5)

 

If you want to game at 1080p it makes a difference. According to notebookcheck (and their results seem about similar to mine) for example GTX 660M in GW2 high settings gets an average of 40.5fps while GT 650M (with DDR3) gets 30. The 14% higher clock speed of the GTX 660M can't account for a 33% difference. It'd be interesting to compare minimum fps too.

Anyway 768p : doesn't matter much, 1080p : GDDR5 might be worth it

 

Always take the faster one
It might not be much now, but it'll be worth it down the road.

 

take the DDR5 of course, as mobious said, even if the difference is not that big right now, the DDR5 will handle future games much better, also nothing wrong with HP, I have had mine for more that 1 year and I havent had a single problem with it yet

 

This x2. You never take the slower GPU, unless it's all you can afford.

 

Unless the other PC is crap...

Also, 10% improvement in FPS won't make a lick of difference in two years when it's struggling to run 30fps regardless.

Depends on overclock potential as well. I can get better performance on my Clevo W110ER with DDR3 than most M14X R2 users get with GDDR5.