i3-2310m enough for gaming ?

I'm running into a problem where I try to recommend laptops to people/friends and I run into a wall where I don't know enough about cpu's to know whether this cpu will be enough to run a graphics card like nvidia 555 that's in lenovo 570.
How does a cpu like this perform, will it be the bottleneck and slow down gaming experience and not utilize gpu completely or will it be fine.

 

If they're going to be buying machines with mid-range GPU's, then any SandyBridge processor should be more than enough. Unless their game preference includes RTS's, most every game now days is GPU bound.

 

the i3 might run into some issues with more CPU demanding games. Maybe an i5 would be a better choice. like the i5 2410m that will pair well with the Gt 555m

 

How would sc2 handle with nvidia 555 and i3-2310m ?

 

Here is a nice review of the new sandy bridge processors paired with a gt 540m:
Review Intel Sandy Bridge Processors Gaming Performance - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

As you can see, the difference is minimal. The GPU is the real bottleneck at this level. Don't think there would be too much of a difference with the gt 555, but I might be wrong.

 

Thank you, very easy to read and straight to the point, repped.

 

Only thing that separates the i3 from the i5 is lack of turbo boosting.
I tested out gaming on my stepdads E-Machines with a first gen i3 and ATI Radeon HD 5470 and to it ran games like a champ.

 

Which if the i3 is a stock higher-clocked variant, it can make turbo boosting not that important or significant. Only lower-clocked i3's may be in a bit in a pinch w/o turbo boosting.

 

-Notebookcheck

So i3 and i5 are more than enough if your GPU is below the listed GPU's

In your case, the 555m is below the 460m, so an i3 or i5 is a perfect fit.

 

I have the same setup as above core i3 370 2.4ghz and ati radeon hd 6370(5470) runs games quite well. I didnt think it would. Of course some tweaks but better then I expected.

 

Yeah 2.4 GHZ is sufficient for a dual core clockspeed. If you were around 1.8-2.0 GHZ, you might be in trouble without the turbo boost feature.

 

I have the rig in the sig ... I think my i3 never hindered my OCed HD5650 ... so far at least ... & for daily tasks it is more than enough (I'm a Construction Engineering & Management student so I do minimal rendering on Autodesk Rivet but other than that no encoding or decoding or anything so I can't comment on that) but as for gaming it runs like a charm

 

We have been discussing the gaming limitations of the I3 for a year now in the Acer forums. Early on, owners of I3 4820TG's began having problems with thermal throttling. The Arrandale I3 has a max temp of 90C in a PGA socket. The I5 has a max temp of 105C. The I3 in the 3820TG with its twin fan cooling was no problem but in the 4820TG, owners noticed serious throttling while gaming and while running stress tests. Eventually, Acer stopped offering the 4820TG in an I3 configuration.

The Sandybridge I3 has an even lower max temp - 85C. Intel Core i3 2310M Notebook Processor - Notebookcheck.net Tech The I5 has a max temp of 100C. Intel Core i5 2410M Notebook Processor - Notebookcheck.net Tech If you're going to game with an I3, make sure you get a notebook that can stay cool under stress.

Bronsky

 

Or download a program called throttlestop and try to externally lower the heat