AMD-based CPU upgrade options - fast dual core? Or slower quad?

Good evening all!

I have a M880G laptop with a V120 in it right now. I want to ditch the single coredness of this laptop with something that adds a little more zip.

The issue is, do I go with something like a Phenom II N620 dual @ 2.8ghz...

OR get a N930 which is clocked lower @ 2ghz...800mhz less but has twice the amount of cores???

This laptop is DDR3 based...other necessary upgrades have been performed such as more memory and an SSD...just need a little more system punch.

 

What are you using the laptop for? For most things, the dual core would be better.

The real question is whether or not your laptop can cool those CPUs and if the BIOS even supports them. What laptop do you have?

 

A few light games tbh...both of those CPU's will increase the TDP by 10W...and yes the BIOS supports the CPU's. It's a Compaq CQ56

 

The dual would be better then.

Now, you're positive that the BIOS supports them? (Remember that a chipset supporting them is not the same.) Sorry for asking so many times; I just want to make sure that you've found confirmation so you don't end up with something that won't even post.

 

A friend of mine has a CQ42 (same config, 14" screen) which he put a quad into and it works perfectly.

 

You maybe be able to stick in a quad core or faster clocked dual core since they are all S1G4 but what will that do to your cooling system? Your cooling system was designed to cool a single core, it would be unwise to do that, that would be extra stress on your fan, not to talk about voiding warranties as the V series processors are relatively new. Plus after you put an SSD or dual/quad core the 4225 graphics are still holding back your notebook.

 

The CQ56 looks exactly like the CQ62, so there actually is a possibility that it uses the same cooling system, and Google revealed that there's even an Intel version of the CQ56 which can handle the Pentium T4500. Unless HP used a different fan for the single-core AMD version, the fan *should* be able to handle a 35W dual core.

Though, you're absolutely right about the graphics. OP, how much do you plan to spend on this CPU?

 

I've work on plenty of CQ50/51/60/61, all have a poor cooling system design. You can feel the palmrest on fire on those models. Same follows for G60/G70 as it is all pretty much the same design.

 

The problem with AMD's current quad-cores is that they have a relatively low clockspeed - 1.6-2.0GHz. Unlike Intel's i7 quad, they cannot adjust their clockspeed dynamically, so they suffer in single-threaded applications.

Personally I would go for the dual-core Turion/Phenom II. Even with Intel's processors, the higher-clocked i5/i7 dual-cores are actually faster/more responsive in most applications vs. the i7 quads.

 

Yep, that is the reason why I am still keeping my Core 2 Duo T9900 machine.


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But, the palm rest feels like its "on fire" because of the HDD, not the CPU.

::2dFx:::I would get a faster dual core, like the N620 you listed. If you worried about heat, then get Athlon II N540, as it has the same TDP as your current processor. The N540 runs at 2.4GHz.

Here's link to compatible processors and their specifications: http://www.amd.com/us/products/note...ainstream/Pages/2010-mainstream-platform.aspx

 

Speaking from experience (had a N930 CPU laptop which I returned), don't get the quad-core. Newer games will run like poop even with a good GPU.

 

Most helpful, many thanks.

SSD = little/no heat! No worries about the palm rest. It's so infuriating that AMD castrates its quads, and even its triple core offerings with low clock speeds! Even the X920 is 2.3Ghz!!! Useless! What's the strategy behind that?

 

I wouldn't get a CPU with a 45 watt TDP, like the X920.

 

They have to manage the TDP and Power somehow or would you rather make them push the envelope to give you a hot unstable CPU?
Either way they are fast and cheap enough for todays mainstream programs.

 

My N930 does well for gaming too. There's too much overblown dislike for the AMD quads. Everyone knows they're a generation behind.

 

I managed to order BOTH an X920, and an N620...I will bench and work with both and create a little report on which one seems to work better under different scenarios. Call it a forum contrib lol, I'll sell the chip I decide not to keep, no biggie

 

Sounds good! What're you going to bench them with?

 

With a reference point though, it is still clear to me that the N930 is REALLY behind compared to the ATi 5xxx medium line GPUs (e.g. 5650). I had the i5 460M / GT420M (stronger CPU, weaker GPU), and the N930 / 5650 (weaker CPU, stronger GPU), which should on paper perform similar, but the latter combo laptop performed from 10% to almost 50% worse than the former combo laptop in a variety of games I've benchmarked. If the N930 is only slightly weaker than the Intel i-series, then the performance should be about even; but alas that was not the case.

 

The decision would depend on you predominate application OP. The vast majority are specified for dual core, but quad-core (and beyond) is the future.

 

PCmark & 3dmark, SuperPi. Orthos for the heat testing...should be an interesting matchup!

 

Get a faster dual-core. AMD's mobile quad-cores are a trap for people who think a quad-core is necessarily better.

The performance is only slightly worse than Intel's better dual-cores in fully multi-threaded applications (which most benchmarks tend to be), but think about what this means: the quad-core, with all of its cores fully in use, is losing to a dual-core. In real life, the number of applications (including games) that will fully load up all 4 cores is small so unless you are using one of them, AMD's quad-core delivers literally half the performance of Intel's dual-core (remember, AMD's quad-cores have no Turbo Boost!). Small wonder games are bottlenecked by the CPU -- the GPU is usually the bottleneck, but not when your CPU has half the performance of the contemporary mid-range.

 

i wouldn't even get AMD.. their CPU's even their duals are no beter than intel core 2 duo T6600 or P8400.. get a laptop with intel core i5.

Panther214