I5 3210m and a GTX 675MX

My question is... Would it be ok to order a laptop with a 675MX and an I5 for gaming for a short period of time until I can upgrade to an I7 ? The reason for the question is because I have decided on a laptop and it comes standard with an I5 processor but an upgrade option the GTX 675m or the GTX 675MX. I have determined through searches it would be easier and cheaper to upgrade the processor when I get the extra money than it would be to upgrade my GPU. I would order both upgrades but I have to sacrifice somewhere and I have read all over that most games aren't going to be CPU intensive right now and by the time the new consoles come out and the ports start flowing in I will have the CPU upgraded. So will the I5 bottleneck the GPU with games like BF3 in multiplayer and crysis 3 as well as the Witcher 2 and the new Sim City. If I can get by a few months gaming with that set up I will have upgraded my CPU. Any help would be appreciated.

 

It seems like you're playing very GPU intensive games. In that case you should be fine. I did some looking online but couldn't really find any information either on this topic. I do have an old Dell M1330. While I can't check the specs of the CPU or GPU (since I am currently working on fixing it), the CPU benchmark (by rank) was slightly above 10% of the GPU. Even in this case, I was still limited by the GPU. In your case, your CPU is ranked around 300, and your GPU is around 50. It should probably be okay based on the website below. However, I am only one person, so my 10% rule may only apply to me.

PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmark Charts

Edit: Sorry I didn't notice the 675M X. The above website doesn't have your card, it should fit in somewhere in the 30s based on the below website.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

I think your plan of attack is fine. But unless you drop a i7 quad into that later you won't get any earth shatering CPU difference. The fastest duals I know of i7 3520 or i7 3540 are only going to add 400MHz and 500MHz clocks respectively. Plus a 1MB L2 cache increase. That is not earth shattering as I said.

 

You're better off getting the i7 now by saving up money aggresively because your strategy is costing you less upfront but much more in the long run. That and also aftermarket OEM CPUs are hard to find, while I can't vouch for the QS chips as their stepping is different to the retail models. Finally, there is the issue of warranty, most manufacturers would void your warranty if you performed a CPU upgrade.
ALL that being said, that i5 chip should be quite solid for the games you want, there will be a mild bottleneck (maybe about 5-10%) in multithreaded games (e.g. GW2) but considering the cost is not a bad deal at all.

 

Not a bad plan. Just note that the i5 can bottleneck BF3 quite a bit even with a 650m. I ended up turning off hyperthreading and that improved performance. Use Throttlestop too to run it at max clock will help too.

 

Yes, I very much agree. But if you insist on pulling the trigger now OP, then you're right: CPU upgrade will cost less than a GPU upgrade when it comes to purchasing aftermarket. i5 is a solid processor, but there ARE a few games that are rather CPU dependent (BF3, Minecraft, WoW, etc.). Some state that otherwise, hyperthreading hinders performance in some games.

On the whole, an i5 system will treat you well, as will the 675MX.

 

Thank you for all the replies. I have pulled the trigger and switched my order and it has already been built and tested as well as shipped today. I stuck with the I5 and GTX 675MX, I believe in the long run this makes the most sense as the I5 can be upgraded rather inexpensively. I have already checked with my sales advisor at PowerNotebooks.com that I can upgrade the CPU whenever I wish. Did some looking on Ebay last night and I can find and I7 3630 as well as an I7 3610 on ebay for $200.00 and less than 200 for the latter. I didn't have the money right away to pull both upgrades out now and get them both the I7 and the GTX 675MX and since I don't have a laptop at all currently and I didn't want to wait. I could have stuck with the I7 3630 upgrade and went with the standard GTX 675m, but that is old tech based off an old card and so I thought with the cost of aftermarket laptop GPU's being so high and hard to find that going in the direction I did was the right thing for now. I don't want to bottleneck the GTX 675MX too much going I5 instead of I7 so I created this thread to make sure I wasn't crazy for making the decision I did.

 

You did well. Not sure what the exact difference is between the 3610 and 3630, but i have the latter in combo with the 675mx and it's treated me well so far. Enjoy your new rig!

 

I can't wait !!! I don't know how long it takes for Fed Ex to get it to me from Nevada via ground shipping, but I'm hoping it wont take long. What about overclocking? I have read a lot about the new kepler cores and how OC friendly they are and cool, but in tandem with a I5 will it be possible to OC my GPU regardless of CPU ?

 

OC the GPU does not have to do with CPU so you are good to go.

 

Where are you located? Max transit time should only be 10 days - maybe 11 if you're all the way in Maine.

And yes, as ASUS-UX32VD mentioned, OC'ing the GPU is completely disunited from CPU performance. Just take care in all your OC'ing practices so as to not brick the card.

I hope you enjoy your new system!

 

It's being shipped from Reno Nv and I live in Arkansas. As far as ocing goes I understand icing the gpu doesn't have any affect on the processor I was just wondering if jumping up the performance of an already decently powered gpu would cause a bottleneck or more of one if the I5 already has any problems performance wise being paired with a 675mx.

 

Actually I know the answer to that already. The I5 is not going to. perform as well in some games as an I7 because it is dual core and ill just have to run stock clocks. But only for a couple months so it's all good. Sorry for the typos I'm on my phone at work.

 

Some programs do utilize the extra cores and even the ones that don't will still most likely run smoother, as the overhead from the OS won't tax the CPU as much on four cores v.s. two (then there's the hyper threading).

Also, I think the transit time from NV to AR is about 5-7 days.

 

Yea I see your point on the lack of cores will affect my performance on some programs. And it landed at lenexa Kansas at 4 this afternoon and I'm in the northwest corner of Arkansas. Does FedEx still hold packages till the exact delivery date

 

Well I got my 11:36 675 on Tues and it is a really nice laptop. The 675mx plays skyrim like a pro and plays bf3 on mostly ultra settings at 40-60 fps but I've been having what seems like stuttering while playing. Far Cry on the other hand runs from 30-50 Fps which I think is pretty good on everything ultra no AA. However the turbo on my 16F3 works but don't know if it has any affect on my CPU/Gpu or atleast I don't notice any fps increase. The I5 seems to do an admiral job for now. Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

That was the stuttering I was referring to earlier with BF3. Turn off hyper-threading if your BIOS allows it. Then use Throttlestop to run it at peak turbo.

 

Never messed with bios before other than update it. And if it's not available in the bios where else might I be able to disable it.

 

If any of you want raw numbers to see whether or not a lower end CPU will bottleneck a high end CPU, here is a very good comparison at notebookcheck.net. Also, if you're interested in the MSI GX60/GX70, look at the second link. It appears AMD GPUs are more reliant on CPU performance(note: the A10-4600M in the GX60 is actually slower than the slowest intel CPU in the first link).
Intel Ivy Bridge Guide for Gamers - NotebookCheck.net Reviews
Review MSI GX60 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews