The CPU Dilemma

So I have excess cash to burn and am planning on buying a fairly nice notebook for gaming and all my other computing and media needs while in pre-mob training and eventually while in Iraq. I already narrowed it down to the two notebooks I am debating between (both Sagers), and I have decided that the 695+ dollars for an additional GPU (SLI) is not worth the investment at this time (since the performance gains are actually minimal at this point). The big issue I have is... Do I spend 300 more for the Intel E8400 (A desktop processor, 3.0ghz, 6mb L2 Cache, 1333mhz FSB), or do I save the 300 bucks and run the Intel T9300 (2.5ghz, 6mb L2 Cache, 800mhz FSB).

The E8400 is obviously a desktop processor, but I believe that both are built on the 45nm architecture, so the heating/battery life issue shouldnt be that drastic.

As far as other system components, I am for sure going to be running 4gb of ram, a 8800m GTX, and 17" screen @ 1900x1200, and obviously Vista x64.

Realistically this is perhaps the last option I have to finalize, and I'm just not sure how much of a performance difference there will really be, and I have yet to find a solid review comparing the desktop processor to the notebook processor. I need some honest opinions based on some knowledge and experience here. My experience with notebooks is limited, and I am a desktop junkie... But travelling overseas is not exactly desktop friendly!

All help greatly appreciated.

-C

EDIT: I will also be running 160-200gb HDD @ SATA II 300 -- 7200RPM

 

You must check your sources man,
you cannot use a e8400 in a laptop designed for a T9300, they physically use different sockets.
The E8400 use LGA775 and
The T9300 use Socket P.
Yes both are 45nm, but the power usage is very different between the chips.
The E8400 uses much more power than the T9300 does.

Based on the specs, it seems as if you are talking about the Sager NP9262 based on the Clevo D901C chassis.

If this is the system you are referring to, you cannot put a T9300 in there. Its a different socket.
The NP9262 uses LGA775 and is designed for desktop core 2 duo and core 2 quad processors.

Please state the two systems you are referring to

K-TRON

 

Sager NP9262 for the E8400, Sager NP5793 for the T9300. I believe I mentioned that it was two seperate sytems I was looking at Sorry for the confusion.

Edit: The only reason I would purchase the NP9262 (since I dont plan to use Raid Configuration, or SLI) is for the different processor. And possibly future upgrades if applicable. I have also considered the Q6600, although I dont think there is anything that really would use it at the moment.

 

Okay, that makes much more sense now.
The E8400 is significantly faster than the T9300 cause it is a desktop processor and all but, it is going to equal shorter battery life.
From the looks of it, I dont see why you do not get the NP5793.
It is a remarkably fast system, which will have more than enough power, and similar performance as the NP9262 you mentioned.
In my head, I dont see why you would get the 9262, cause you are not using sli, and your not using raid.
Basically the 5793 is a better option, you can put a nice high capacity high speed harddrive, 4gb of memory, the 8800gtx, and a very fast dual core processor.
I would not worry so much about processing power, the T9300 is a very powerful dual core, its not as fast as the E8400, but you will get more battery life, mobility and such from the 5793.
The T9300 is more than capable in running any cpu intensive program fast and efficiently.

K-TRON

 

Here is a link to Tom's Hardware you can run benchmarks on that Desktop CPU get some #'s. They don't have the T9300 but do have the mobile 2.6Ghz Xtreme which should be close or the 2.4Ghz also should be close. So go play with the numbers. Desktop is more powerful and yes while both are 45nm the E8400 has 65w TDP and T9300 has 35w TDP. The mobile platform will use less power and should weigh less.

 

Lower TDP means less heat to dispose of and less fan noise. And if you are not fully utilising the CPU performance then the notebook CPU will substantially throttle back on the power drain to run cool and quietly. When gaming, the GPU is the bottleneck.

John

 

I suppose the biggest thing here is battery life is not a huge issue for me. I cant drag the notebook along with me in the Humvee so in all essences of the phrase it will literally be a desktop replacement. The only reason I am buying a notebook is because I am not allowed to haul my desktop as checked luggage haha, nor do we have the room for them in our living quarters. As such, I will pretty much always have an outlet to plug in to. With that in mind, the E8400 is obviously quite a bit more powerful, especially with the much higher FSB.

The biggest advantage I can see with the NP9262, is that if I do decide to upgrade to more HDD's, SLI, etc in the future, I would have the capacity to do so I think? Sorry if I seem completely oblivious here, I am used to building desktops, and have very limited experience with notebooks. Have read tons of reviews, but just hard to make up ones mind sometimes I suppose, wanted to get the advice from more experience people.

Thanks again for all the help so far,

-C

Edit: To clarify, the only reason I am not purchasing SLI for now is because the benchmarks show extremely varied and limited performance changes between single 8800GTX and SLI (poor driver support and games just arent engineered around it I suppose), and also there is the rumor of higher powered 9000m series GPU's on the horizon.

2nd Edit: After reading John's post, you are saying that it could really make 2 cents difference between a T8300, T9300, and E8400 when it comes to gaming so long as I have the 8800GTX doing the graphical work?

 

That is correct! In gaming, CPU dependency is so small that a notebook with a slower CPU but a fast GPU would outperform a notebook with a faster CPU with a slower GPU. For example, a notebook fitted with T7300 + 8800M GTS would have better framerates compared to a T9300 + 9500M GS.

Of course this totally depends on what games you'll be running, but generally this statement would hold true in most comparisons.