Which CPU to keep up

I'm thinking about buying a Kobalt GS150 and am trying to decide on options.

The main on I can't decide on is the CPU. Whcih one do you think I would need for it to not be the laptops bottleneck when gaming/general computing.

The options are from the i3-2310M dual core seemingly up through the range to the i7-2820QM quad core.

The other main components will be a nVidia GT 540M and 6gb of RAM.



Also as a side if anyone knows about the screens on these which would you go for and why, and also which wireless?

Thanks.

 

Depends on what you are doing, or if you are gaming which games you are playing. Games like Civ 5, Starcraft 2 and GTA4 are more CPU bound than GPU.

 

Well, spoken for myself I would take the cheapest CPU and upgrade it myself with a better one (from ebay or similar), there are already sandy bridge ES chips around as far as I remember.

If u use the system for gaming the GT540m will be the bottleneck, not the CPU (except maybe for some CPU demanding games which aren't that much afaik)

Edit: Tsunade_Hime beat me

 

I should have mentioned I'll probably try overclocking the GPU but not the CPU if that makes any difference.

Which games, if any, will cause the CPU to be the bottleneck then? Some of the ones Tsunade lists do sound appealling to me. How high would I have to go for the GPU to be the bottleneck even in these games?

From the point of view of other stuff I do do some photo editing and digital art. I guess these are things CPU has quite an effect on?

 

I mean an i3/i5 is sufficient for 90% of games out there. i7 won't hurt gaming but it will benefit players of listed games moreso.

 

This really depends on what settings (max, high, middle, low, whatever they're all called) and at which resolution you intend to play the games...

That's true. For such tasks and programs the CPU is still doing most of the work. There are some applications and tasks which can really take an advantage of the CUDA technology from Nvidia but that's still pretty rare and more to be found in the professional area.

 

The games I'll be playing will mainly be EVE online, BFBC2 and Starcraft (as well as stuff like TF2, but that will zoom along on whatever I spec it with). I would like to have a go at Civ 5 though and would like to play all these games at the highest setting the card will allow.

Looking at other website I'm considering buying it at deviltech instead, where the upgrade cost from the base i5 2410M to a i7 2630QM is very little. Will it effect battery life at all if I take this upgrade and will it be a noticbale step up in performance? After that the price difference going up the range gets bigger and bigger. Also do the i7s still come with their own graphics chip so I can use optimus.

Sorry, alot of questions, you've been very helpful so far.

 

Keep in mind that you cannot upgrade the cpu to a Sandy Bridge one if you get the older i3/i5 cpu/socket (for that matter, upgrading to the i7 of the same generation is not always doable).


If your options range from i3/i5 all the way to i7 2820qm, then if I was in your position, I'd go with the i7 2630qm if it's on offer (or i7 2720qm).

That will give you the SB cpu (latest generation) which would be able to keep up with virtually anything out there for some time to come, and would be excellent for your photo editing/digital art because we are talking about a quad core cpu that is perfect for these programs (I'm using 3dsMax myself, and I can tell you a cheap quad from SB would be far better than an i3 or i5).

As for games... you have to make sure to pair the cpu with a decent gpu.
Something along the lines of at least Ati Mobility Radeon 5650 (though there's the 6xxx series out now that would be better speed wise), or a high-performance gpu if you plan doing games on high resolution.

 

The only option GPU wise for this laptop that I can find is the nVidia GT 540M. So are the new i3s and i5s not sandy bridge? I thought they updated the whole range.

 

What? If that laptop offers SB processors, it is SB. The new generation Core i5 for SB have been out. If it's not more to the 2630QM, I would go for that.

Yes all Core i series processors will have integrated graphics, but not all motherboards will choose to implement Optimus which is crap anyway. You can scour this forums and find hundreds if not thousands of complaints about Optimus.

 

If they are offering SB in the laptop, then yeah, both i3 and i5 will be SB as a result (or at least they should be).
Make sure there is a number 2 preceding the number of the cpu.

Although, as I said, for what you plan on doing with the laptop and expectations, I wouldn't go with anything less than 2630QM or 2720QM (because more and more games will be using quads).

The 540M gpu is actually slightly faster than Mobility Radeon 5650 (if I'm not mistaken), though it's still a mid-range gpu (albeit a fairly decent one).

You will be able to max out most games (not all though) on resolution of say 1280x800 and 1330x xxxx, or perhaps larger one (though don't hold me to that).

For resolutions of 1600x .... and above, you would need a high performance gpu.

A configuration that sports 2630QM and 540m is a pretty powerful one gaming-wise as far as contemporary laptops go.

If you cannot shell out more cash for a high-performance gpu, then go with the 540M.

EDIT:
Just went to KOBALT's webpage and upgrading the cpu from i3 to i7 2630QM is £93.
Total price-tag for everything (with upgraded cpu) comes out to £870.60 (VAT included).

I think you can hold off on the RAM upgrade and get yourself 8GB later once prices go down (right now, buying 2x4GB DDR3 1066Mhz Ram would essentially come to over £60 [a bit more expensive than if you upgraded on Kobalt's website right now before purchase]).

 

Well due to prices I've decided to order from devil tech.

The jump from the base i5 2410M to i7 2630QM is only like 40 pounds, then the jump to the next one up (i7 2720QM) is nearly another £100 on top of that so the i7 2630 definatly seems like better value.

What effect will the upgrade have on battery life. Are the new intel chips good enough at clocking down or whatever that I won't notice much of a difference?

I've seen vids of playing the newest CoD on it at 1600*900 with all high and it doesn't dip below 30fps. I would like a better GPU, and can afford it but it's more I don't want the bigger form factor to go with it. The GTX 460 equipped one in their range is half a kilo heavier and nearly 1cm thicker. Also the extra £400 doesn't seem great value for money for the extra 20fps. To some people I guess it might be, but not to me.

Overall spec wise it looks like I'll go for the GT 540M, i7 2630QM and 6GB of RAM. Comes to about £760.

If I had the choice I would go for a laptop without optimus where I can just switch the graphics manually, but there doesn't seem to be one with as high specs at this price point.

 

SB cpu's are quite efficient in terms of power consumption (or so we saw in some benchmarks - take that with a grain of salt), so there shouldn't be issues when using it on battery.

Depends on what you perceive to be 'extra value' when it comes to a better gpu.
Performance based gpu's will always increase the price, however, you might be better off trying to find an AMD Mobility Radeon performance gpu instead since they tend to beat Nvidia in virtually everything while being cheaper.

Try looking up a 2630QM with Mobility Radeon 6850 or 5850.
If you can't find one, then stick with GT 540M (it will do the job fine).

 

They do exsist but are overpriced (partly due to the fact i'd have to import frim america), chunky and heavy from what i've found.

What will the battery life difference be between the SB i5 and i7. Are they good enough at clocking down when they're not fully needed that i won't notice much of a difference?

 

They do exsist but are overpriced (partly due to the fact i'd have to import frim america), chunky and heavy from what i've found.

What will the battery life difference be between the SB i5 and i7. Are they good enough at clocking down when they're not fully needed that i won't notice much of a difference?

 

Well, the i5 is a dual core so that helps to save energy, but the i7 will be good enough at clocking down when they aren't being used.
Ultimately, you shouldn't notice much of a difference.