Upgrading i7-3630QM: Will I be disappointed in the performance boost? (680M GPU)

So right now I have an i7-3630QM in my laptop with a GTX 680M. I love to play MMO games, and lately those games seem to require a lot more CPU power. I've been playing PlanetSide 2 and I've noticed that the biggest bottleneck is my CPU thus far. So I'm thinking of upgrading to a 3840QM. Question is, do you guys think I'll be disappointed by the CPU power increase? I'm hoping that this upgrade will make the games I run more GPU bound, because it's a lot easier to OC my GPU.

I've also thought about upgrading to an XM chip, but it's way too expensive and tbh with the heating problems I'm bound to have, not to mention my GPU not being SLI, I doubt I can OC it to it's full potential. Therefore I'm most likely just going to upgrade to the highest QM chip ATM (which is the 3840QM). Do you guys think it's worth it?

 

I think the 3630qm is a decent CPU so you might not notice much unless you goall the way and upgrade to a 3940xm, which obviously is v expensive at the moment. My only experience is going from a 2670qm to a 2960xm, So might wanna wait for more people to chime in with their experiences....

 

The general rule is you typically won't notice much of a performance advantage unless the upgrade brings a 20% or better speed advantage. Even upgrading to the top of the line 3940XM is only going to give you between a 10-15% speed boost without overclocking. Spending a thousand dollars just for that, or five hundred dollars for the smaller speed boost of the 3840QM, seems like a point of vastly diminishing returns. Sure, you can still do it if you must have the absolute most powerful processor available to your system, but I wouldn't pay between 1/4 and 1/2 the cost of my system again for such a small marginal improvement.

 

If you have an unlocked BIOS which will let you overclock multis on XM CPU then I may show you the way how to buy XM CPU for much less than usual 3920XM.

 

Try ThrottleStop. It will let you run at max boost speed indefinitely so you can get the most out of your CPU. If you have an i7-3720/3740 or i7-3820/3840QM you can use Intel XTU to boost an extra 400MHz.

 

search terms on ebay: QBC1

 

All current mobile cpu's will bottleneck your gpu in varying degrees (depending on the game).

Moving to the i7 3840QM will definitely be a sideways move for you (re: gaming) and in the 'not worth it range' unless the upgrade is $50 or less.


I would be looking to the 4th gen Haswell platforms to fulfill any performance deficiencies of your current system/platform... Anything that you could have bought at the 3rd gen IB stage will have all the same issues you currently face.

Don't forget that your current system will be worth $$$ towards a Haswell based system.

Also don't forget that to optimize your current and future platforms, you will need:

O/S: Win8x64 Pro (or better - Win 7 is already obsolete for new(er) hardware).

RAM: 16GB 1600MHz modules (or better... either 32GB or higher speed...).

SSD: If you're running a HDD right now, consider an SSD (240/256GB pre Crucial M500 or 480/960GB post Crucial M500 or better).

GPU: you already have the top performer as far as gaming is concerned (afaik).


With the above hardware/software in place, consider the following suggestions to ensure optimum/maximum performance of your setup for as long as you own the system:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...rage/718208-asus-ux32vd-db71.html#post9194652


If, after faithfully applying all the above, the performance is still not to your expectations... I suggest you need a desktop based platform for your gaming sessions (and it will be cheaper too...).


Hope this helps a little.

Good luck.

 

Depends on games you play. I wouldn't even consider the 3840QM over the 3740QM unless they're the same price. 3840QM only offers 100MHz difference and usually at a significant cost difference. I can run my i7-3740QM at 3.9GHz all four cores all day long with Intel XTU. 3840 will be able to do 4.0GHz.

I recently upgraded from an i7-3610QM to i7-3740QM and it's been a pretty noticeable difference for Battlefield 3. But that's a major CPU hog.

 

Been playing PlanetSide 2, it s a major CPU hog too. In your experience, how much increase did you get fps wise? Right now my CPU is chocking in some big battles at around 30ish. I have throttlestop, but I can't really go beyond turbo boost because as you know the 3630QM is locked; at least the 3840QM could be boosted by 200-400MHz, or so I've heard. XM just seems to expensive, but if it goes down in price significantly when Haswell comes out (doubt it) I'll definitely get one and try to OC, although I'm mostly worried about the power consumption and heat (I'm on an 180 Watt brick... I think? Didn't check but it's the default brick the GT60-ONE with so probably.)

I would definitely love to upgrade to a Haswell CPU, but the problem is I'm not sure it will even be compatible with my current laptop mobo; if it is I would definitely upgrade to Haswell instead. I guess that remains to be seen.

Also just for more help on deciding, here's my current laptop setup:

Laptop: MSI GT60-0NE (Shipped with Windows 8 64-bit)
CPU: i7-3630QM
RAM: 32GB RAM DDR III (1600Mhz)
GPU: GeForce GTX 680M (4MB DDR5 RAM)
Space: SuperRAID 128GB + 750GB HHD (7200RPM)

Side question: Do you guys think changing out the RAM to faster ones would help at all? Don't even know if my mobo could take higher ones (probably?)

 

changing out your ram to faster ones will increase your fps by a measly 2%, this is DEFINITELY a go for, ok just be realistic, don't you think you have enough ram with a decent enough speed? As far as I know more than 8 Gbs of ram will just sit there and "be there because I feel like my system runs faster"(big no in terms of your use)

just like the others have said, investing on another CPU just for a 3-400 mhz increase is not worth the money, realistically if you say fxxk you I have the money then its fine but it seems better to save up the money for a complete new system (really, the jump to a 3840qm at roughly $500 is worth another laptop already), bare in mind too as the price for the 3940XM drops to an acceptable range for you it will be near time for another new platform to come out, your best bet should be some qualifying samples with the unlocked multiplier and do some OCs to run the CPU intensive programs

 

So basically just wait until Haswell comes out, check the compatibility, and then upgrade if possible? What if Haswell isn't compatible? Then just wait until the prices drop and upgrade since it's not worth it right now?

 

it is not going to be compatible, and let me just get this straight, the 3630qm is powerful enough not to throttle your GPU(end of story), moreover the only time when you HAVE to upgrade the CPU is when it throttles newer compatible GPU, which isn't the ones out in the market at the mean time, do come back and check if it throttles the gtx 780m when its released(not likely though), predictions under current trend tells me that, if gtx780m does not get throttled by 3630qm but operates at their limits on each other(meaning that a more powerful GPU will get throttled but 780M is just at its limit), under current tech advancement where there are usually 15% increase in performance per year then you will need a 15% more powerful CPU for the top of the line 8-series nvidia GPU(880m), leading to you getting a CPU that operates at 2.4x1.15= about 2.8 Ghz base clock CPU(15% more powerful as well) to not throttle the 880m(if its 15% more powerful), and so leading to you upgrading to the 3840/3920/3940 CPU in 2 years time at greatly reduced price by then, definitely stick with the current CPU you have until upgradeable GPU gets throttled

 

As both the OP and HTWingNut have already stated; the current cpu DOES throttle the gpu. Period.


There is no mobile cpu powerful enough to not throttle the top end gpu's. And I don't think this will change in the near future (5-10 years).

A cpu is what powers a computer and when all is said and done, a gpu will (always?) be dependent on it. As is every other component of a modern computer system.

You can't get the most/max performance from any component unless you have the most powerful/latest components in the rest of the setup/platform.


Period.

 

Put another way, a top-end graphics card is the single fastest and most powerful component in a computer today. If you define "throttle" as another component that operates slower than the one to which you're referring and prevents the graphics card from achieving its highest theoretical performance, EVERYTHING throttles it.

However, the original poster is so close to the highest performance possible within the limits of his system, it is pointless and a waste of money for a typical user to spend such an excessive amount of money on an upgrade that will make a 15% difference at most, as opposed to saving the money for a future system that will be more powerful in practically all aspects.

 

That is one way of looking at it - but since I don't rely only on a gpu for my processing power in my workloads (yet) I still think the cpu/ram combo is what should be the most powerful 'component' in a system today.

A cpu doesn't throttle a gpu in a game on it's own - a (powerful) cpu is needed because that's how the game engine is programmed (and a powerful cpu takes care of the complex computations while the gpu handles 'just' the simpler (from a programming-wise view) ones.

 

If your machine supports XTU, get an i7-3740QM. You can run it at 3.9GHz fully loaded all cores. That's a solid 700-800MHz over the 3630QM and can make a surprising improvement in SOME games.

 

What's XTU?

Overall I suppose I'll just wait it out for now; I don't NEED the upgrade, but it's something I'd like to get sometime down the line (maybe in a couple of months) if prices get cheaper. If they do I'll definitely go for the more expensive CPU's, but if they don't I might as well settle for the i7-3740QM (if the boost can go to 3.9 on all cores.)

 

XTU is the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, which allows adjustment of TDP targets and turbo clock frequencies in some systems. In my notebook (Lenovo Thinkpad W530), it supports adjusting the max TDP values, but does not support adjusting clock frequencies on my Core i7-3720QM.

 

Yeah you have to have the proper chipset/BIOS to adjust the clock speed.

 

Out of curiosity, since you say you can OC the 3740QM to 3.9 on all cores, how much do you think you could OC 3840QM? Probably past 4.0?

I think if I do upgrade it's going to either be 3740QM or 3840QM, most likely the former and just boost with XTU. Is your OC @ 3.9 stable? How much heat?

 

Just to add the correct term that I am totally baffled was not used. You guys do not mean throttled you guys mean "bottle necked" But the more I read I think maybe you do mean "throttled" and I realize you guys might just be missing it all?

 

Yes, bottlenecked is a more appropriate term for the discussion. I don't believe anyone here is claiming that the graphics card downclocks based on the processor used.

 

BY

XTU allows 400 MHz OC from peak speeds for 3720/3740/3820/3840QM, nothing for 3610/3612/3630/3632QM, and unlimited on XM CPUs. You can use ThrottleStop to ensure peak CPU speed at all times but that can become a power, TDP, or thermal issue. So 3740 will peak at 3.9 GHz and 3840 at 4.0 GHz with all cores loaded.

I personally think the 3820/3840 is a waste of money.

Sent from my YP-G70 using Tapatalk 2

 

I doubt you'll get much improvement EVEN IF you get a Haswell XM. There are some edge cases when the CPU just happen to miss the tick every time by a little bit. In those cases a slight frequency boost may improve overall performance noticeably. Otherwise there could be very little improvement.

The game may also be RAM bottlenecked, in which case a faster CPU won't do much good.

Can you look for software tweaks?

 

You're probably right. I'll probably settle for a i7-3740QM. not worth 300 bucks for a measly 100Mhz.

Also, if I upgrade my CPU, do I just take out the old chip and put in the new one and boot it up again? It will auto-detect the change?

It's probably not worth it to get an XM chip right? Especially since my GPU is not in SLI (and I can't SLI according to some research I dug up on my laptop.)

For reference (and to check if my laptop is compatible with XTU and the upgrade:

MSI GT60-0NE + Intel HM77 Chipset + GTX 680M + Windows 8

 

you are right, only thing as a friendly reminder is that you will need to clear and reapply thermal paste on the CPU (and clear old thermal paste on the heatsink)
and make sure the CPU fits into the socket correctly(the socket has one of its corner covered with no pins so the pins do not make a square shape but instead is of a pentagon shape

 

Games with a dedicated CPU are never RAM bottlenecked. They can be video RAM bottlenecked but rarely ever system RAM bottlenecked.

 

Dude, you can get a good 15 percent increase in graphics performance in 3dmark11 just by overclocking the gtx680m.
I normally would get 5800 or so with 3dmark but with overclock on the gpu and memory I can get a significant boost
to 6900 and sometimes more on 3dmark 11 with my i7 3630qm and gtx680.
I use nvidia inspector and it's free.
Just overclock the gpu to 854mhz and the memory by 400 mhz. She will heat up more but If your laptop has decent
cooling like my metabox you will be fine. This gave me the extra power I needed to run games better.

 

Hey thread necromancer, maybe you should actually try playing PlanetSide 2 before giving advice like that, because everyone knows that CPU is the primary bottleneck in this game if you have anything resembling a half-decent GPU. Overclocking the GPU isn't gonna do squat for your performance in this game if you're already CPU-bound, all it's gonna do is heat up your GPU more.

 

It is not about increasing the FPS when it is alre4ady running at 80+ it is when the CPU holds you to 20 is when you need the extra power. the 3630 is 3.4 GHz where the 3840 is 3.8 now if the +400 can be accessed then you are at 4.2 GHz or a 23% increase. so if the CPU is holding you at 20FPS then if the GPU can handle it you could run much faster at 23% or even more counting on the programing holding you back.

On my Samsung ITU does not work and had to have the lower level in UEFI set for the +400 as the normal CPU running clock for my 3820.

Now again you need to be sure where the FPS is low the CPU is maxing out and where the GPU is not. if the GPU is maxed out where you are getting low FPS it really does not matter too much what you do for the CPU or memory.

 

PlanetSide 2 always drops to sub-30 FPS in clusterf*cks with low GPU usage and the game telling you it's CPU-bound, so overclocking the CPU is really beneficial. Actually, unless you have an XM or desktop K CPU that you can push to 4.5+ GHz, it's probably not even worth bothering. This game is so reliant on single-threaded CPU performance and runs like such poop, it's not even funny anymore.

 

Yeah its really CPU bound to the point it is a joke.. Good thing I have a 3940XM

 

Can I necropost a bit more?

Given the last year CPU releases - is there an mmo performance driven CPU upgrade option for GT70 owners with 3630qm?
(180 w, video 970m).
Feels like cpu bottlenecks performance in mmo's...

Maybe even in a style CPU-fan-PU unit