2630qm vs 2720qm - Once an for all

So on many of the already existing 2630qm vs 2720qm threads I've seen on this forum, people have very mixed answers in what the differences are between these two new Sandy Bridge processors. And I think for newcomers like myself, it's very confusing when the answers from posters on this forum don't match with some more in-depth research.

The majority of people state that the only additions that the 2720qm offers are:

1) higher clock speeds (obviously)
2) 1600mhz support
3) VT-d support

However, upon doing more research, I've found that there are a few other additions that the 2720qm supports, but the 2630qm doesn't:

4) Intel My Wifi Technology
5) Wireless Display (WiDi)
6) Intel Anti-Theft Technology
7) 4G WiMAX

So, can anyone confirm these differences, once and for all?

Page for 2630qm: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52219
Page for 2720qm: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=50067

 

Seriously dude. You just had that discussion in the Alienware forum few days ago.
We told you:
2630QM support WiDi
My WiFi have absolutely nothing to do with the CPU but the adapter
2720QM have 200 MHz faster IGP

I don`t understand why you need to have this discussion all over again

 

yep! I just lumped that addition with the "increased clock speeds" section, since the 2720qm offers increased clock speeds across all categories (IGP, turbo mode, regular)

 

AES Instructions - accelerated encryption

And just show as comparison:

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=52219,50067,

 

anti-theft is also included in both. This thread is only making things worse

 

The i7 720 also supports 1600mhz ram.

 

Bottom Line: The i7-2720QM is not worth the money, unless you need VT-d

 

Source? I can't find anything that says that it's supported on the 2630qm.

 

I disagree 100%. I would take 400 MHz faster CPU and 200 MHz faster IGP any day of the week for $150

 

Sounds cute until you do the math, and see that it's only a 13% difference, and that's at the top-end, where it's very unlikely to rest.

But what's worthless to me, is an asset to someone else.

 

I wouldn't. I don't do enough CPU demanding tasks besides gaming, in which case the 2630qm is already a monster. Maybe I'd pay $70 tops as the extra power might come in handy for emulators which I occasionally enjoy. $150 is almost the price for an SSD, or a decent desktop GPU, I'd be really pissed off to spend that kind of money on a minor upgrade.

 

I think the ark page needs a reality check, since these "advanced technologies" have jackall to do with the cpu.

 

they are somewhat connected, since that the northbridge is inside the cpu itself. You have to have a controller for those. Although it can be said those could be easily shared with the chipset itself (southbridge in this case)

Basically, if you have a need for high cpu power, and games dont count, get the more expensive model, since it provides VT-d and other additions that make it worth.

The cache in the i7 2820qm is a great thing for people that do a lot of calculations, since those are responsible for storage and execution

 

Yeah, I have to admit I was scratching my head on those "advanced" ones, but didn't know for sure so didn't say anything.

 

Intel's ark pages are only just an approximation of the truth. They always have been. Kind of sad really.

 

just man up and read the tech docs

 

I wouldn't even pay $100. Probably $50 at most. When i was buying my G73 , there was the same question with the i7-720QM and i7-820QM. In end , to be frank , best thing to do is to get the i7-720QM and OC it. I don't even need to do that with my 740QM because it is powerful enough. Unless you need it , don't waste your money.

I don't think everyone has time to do that. That's why we come here as a shortcut lol and to help others.

 

Well, judging by all the comments so far, no one here can confirm for sure what exactly is offered in the 2720qm that isn't offered in the 2630qm.

So until we can get someone who can provide solid proof on the additional features (if there is any at all), then the 2720qm still seems to offer a lot more than what the 2630qm does.

 

They have nothing to do with the chipset either, its the wireless card. #4 and 7 especially work with just about any minicard slot and the right card.

#5 probably just needs a hook for the display output and SB mobile are all the same 3000 gpu, again a failure of reality on the ark's part.

 

Actually without the necessary controller + the centrino card, you dont get it. So what is the job of the PCH? What does the output in the new HD 3000? How the centrino (wireless cards) are connected?

as I said read the tech docs, its incredible the precision that those have

I only saw people complaining about the imprecision of the ark, nothing more. Help is available in other threads and is commendable. However here I dont see it

 

One more thing, The 2630QM also supports 1600Mhz ram configs as long as the bios has support for it.

 

Do you actually need 1600MHz RAM? That's the question and is the price worth it?

 

Well, You always like the best for your systems right? For about $25 more, Atleast your ram is somewhat futureproof. And yes, It is worth it. IMO.

 

what performance benefits have you seen with your faster ram?

 

Well if you want to make use of the integrated GPU that always helps.

 

why would you want high performance ram for your integrated when you have a high performance discrete gpu for that?

 

Only if you have no discrete GPU...

 

i see a lot of dudes with highend machines and discrete gpu get the 1600mhz ram i dont really know what for.
im an enthusiast video editor and im really wondering whether this increase in ram speed would matter. it sure didnt from 1066 to 1333.

edit: sorry for the ot post, just wondering

 

It won't matter. I can't think of any instance where 1600MHz over 1333MHz would make much of a difference. Something that is I/O intensive with read/writes to RAM that isn't dependent on other things like CPU or GPU or HDD/SSD or other I/O devices. If there's marginal price differences, well then, no big deal, why not. But I wouldn't pay a premium.

 

there are no differences, when you are with a heavy I/O scenario the best would be to have more memory

 

If i remember correctly from review that Anandtech did to 1066 and upwards, the differences between 1333 C7 and 1666 C9 was 2-3 FPS in some games and they switched position of a few hundred points in various tests.

 

In my last desktop I had an E8500 (3.3Ghz) and 4GB DDR3 2000.

Timings were 9-9-9-24 (or was it 27) I think.

I can't speak for others, I really enjoyed my RAM and felt things were fast, but I'm sure I would have felt the same with 1600 or maybe even 1333 RAM. Maybe...I'll never know

 

going back to the op's topic, id say the the 2630qm gives the best value for any performance laptop when all things are considered.

 

Not exactly, RE: Intel?s Sandy Bridge i7-2820QM: Upheaval in the Mobile Landscape - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News ... note the graphic processor's 'turbo' fequency.

 

I was in the same dilemma but I decided I'd put the money on the 2720QM towards an SSD... overall performance will be awesome

 

So does 2630qm support widi or not ?????? Member here said yes , the website provided indicated otherwise.

 

The answer is yes.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/551664-2630qm-widi.html

 

lol what RAM do you use?

 

I'd like to see that article if you have a link. All things being equal, I don't see that happening because games aren't dependent on RAM speed.

edit: here's one with desktop memory:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2792/10

" Average frame rate improvements improved up to 7% by increasing bandwidth and reducing latencies but we never noticed the difference when actually playing the game. However, we noticed minimum frame rates improving up to 14% as we increased bandwidth and reduced latencies. This is an important fact as minimum frame rates are a better indicator of performance than averages in most cases. In our particular benches, the improved minimum frame rates took Dawn of War II from being a stutter fest in heavy action sequences to relatively smooth when moving from 1066 C7 to 1333/1600 C6. "

and here's another:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2737/3

Basically shows same timings offer same result, not speed of memory.

What difference does it make?