Will an i7-3630qm bottleneck an Nvidia 970m?

Hey guys,

I am looking to upgrade from my 7970m to a 970m.

Simple question (or not), will an i7-3630qm bottleneck an Nvidia 970m?

Thanks!

 

I doubt it.

3 Ghz Quad core? Nah. It'll run pretty well. You'll only get bottlenecking in PCSX2.

 

No

 

I am thinking of purchasing an i7-3940xm. Is it worth the upgrade? I can get a good deal on it so would only end up costing around £120 extra if I sold my 3630qm too. Not bad I think and a little more future proof.

Also I do a lot of rendering, 3D and video so figure its worth it.

 

Do you have the cooling for the XM, esp. when overclocked?

 

This depends HEAVILY on the notebook you own. You should tell us what that is.

 

I have a 3940XM and like the OP had a 3630QM.. If you have an Alienware M17x R4, you'll do 4GHz on 4 cores with the 3940XM and run at 80-85C if you use good thermal paste... If OP has something like this, he'll be fine..

 

Hi, I have a clevo P150EM. Is it worth upgrading to a 3940xm and 970m? I've been thinking of selling the laptop and just getting a desktop too. Get more performance for my money and not 100% sure I need the portability.

 

The P150EM would require a bit more elbow grease to properly handle a 3940XM. If you want to do it, go right ahead and it'll suit you just fine, but if you're not into that elbow grease part then a desktop would be easier for sure.

 

I tried the 3940xm and it would shoot to 85 to 90+ when running a CPU test so wasn't able to cope with the heat! Not sure what to do really. Scrap the whole idea and sell my laptop and extra 3940xm BUT I can't post on the marketplace on these forums as I'm too new and not enough posts. I have been selling on eBay for years and could prove that but really need to get rid of these parts so I can purchase a desktop.

 

My 3940XM hits 90C++ it's fine... You can use some good thermal paste and you'll be fine... Do this and give it another shot..

 

Hi, what temperature does your max at now? I repasted it numerous times this evening. My 3630qm hits around 75c in a CPU stress test but with the 3940xm it goes to 75, then 85 then over 90. I stop the stress test before it goes above 94c!

I am stuck now with what i should do. In the clevo P150EM the cpu cooler has a copper plate but the end radiator is aluminium I believe so maybe I could pick up an all copper version.

To be honest I would rather just sell it, with my laptop and get a desktop. It is too much of a headache and I just can't seem to get it to stay at a low temperature.

 

XM chip in a laptop never equals low temps!

The chips are built to withstand the heat. Just keep it under throttle temp.

970m is a great card. Get that the CPU purring nicely and you shouldn't regret keeping the laptop.

 

Liquid Ultra if you have a copper heatsink. That knocked double digits off under load on my 3920xm .

 

I moved over to desktop gaming too but I got a mini itx (Obsidian 250D). I recommend you look into those unless you must have SLI. I still got my old P170HM if I need it for movies or other stuff though. The cost of a single 970M will be really high, probably near the cost of a new laptop or Desktop come to think of it.

 

Single 970M can be purchased for 450USD from a well known and reputable distributor.

http://rjtech.com/shop/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=30307

 

To answer the OP... yes. Depending on the scenario. My 4940MX is the bottleneck in some games and apps even. The extent of the bottleneck is really quite limited though and only if you're looking to go beyond 60FPS or you're playing games that heavily use the processor for computation like Civ.