The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Which is the bottleneck? Radeon HD 6750M or Intel Core i7-2675QM 2.20Ghz

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by NapalmDeath, Dec 27, 2011.

  1. NapalmDeath

    NapalmDeath Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    123
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Looking at a Samsung series 7 laptop NP700Z5A - SO4 or SO9.

    Would the GPU or the CPU be the bottleneck on games like SWTOR?

    Radeon HD 6750M with Intel Core i7-2675QM 2.2-3.1Ghz +$100

    or

    Radeon HD 6750M with Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5-3.1Ghz

    cpu benchmarks shows the quad core cpu "could in theory" give +50%, but if the gpu is the bottleneck, it wouldn't matter.

    Appreciate thoughts, numbers even better.
     
  2. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,431
    Messages:
    58,189
    Likes Received:
    17,900
    Trophy Points:
    931
    It will be the GPU.
     
  3. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

    Reputations:
    6,668
    Messages:
    8,224
    Likes Received:
    231
    Trophy Points:
    231
    The GPU in both cases. CPU would play more of a role in RTS games like SCII, but it still probably won't bottleneck you aside from a few exceptional cases.
     
  4. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

    Reputations:
    1,654
    Messages:
    5,955
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Can't quite understand your query. The specs you have is way more than the system requirements to play SWTOR smoothly. I would pay attention to disk access and internet connectivity as potential slowers, not counting good gpu drivers and game patches.

    cheers ...
     
  5. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

    Reputations:
    5,398
    Messages:
    12,692
    Likes Received:
    2,717
    Trophy Points:
    631
    As everyone here agrees that the gpu is sufficient to play the game (I don't even know what it is :) ), I would say that the i5 would limit your gameplay assuming that the notebook system in question has at least 8GB RAM and was also able to keep cool even the i7 properly.

    Why? Because unless you're simply installing Win7 and the game in question, the O/S, Anti-Virus and any other background tasks will need the additional cpu resources just to keep Windows (properly) afloat.

    The CPU and RAM always matters - if not for highest fps 'scores', then certainly for minimum fps 'scores' and that will definitely be worse on the i5 vs. the i7, imo.

    Good luck.
     
  6. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,431
    Messages:
    58,189
    Likes Received:
    17,900
    Trophy Points:
    931
    The minimum that the i5 can produce will in most cases higher than the average the 6750 can put out on average.
     
  7. James D

    James D Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,314
    Messages:
    4,901
    Likes Received:
    1,132
    Trophy Points:
    231
    I will add that only COD games are CPU independent and quad-core will give you better fraps.
     
  8. ZXRaziel

    ZXRaziel Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    102
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The CPU is far more powerfull than the GPU in both cases , if you want to play games you need better GPU .
     
  9. funky monk

    funky monk Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    233
    Messages:
    1,485
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Didn't know about COD, but source games are fairly CPU heavy too. An i5 will handle them just fine but for their age they're pretty hungry. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is RTS games.
     
  10. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,431
    Messages:
    58,189
    Likes Received:
    17,900
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Well the source games may run at 90fps instead of 95fps, big whoop.
     
  11. Steven

    Steven God Amongst Mere Mortals

    Reputations:
    705
    Messages:
    986
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Most Definitely the Graphics Card.
     
  12. NapalmDeath

    NapalmDeath Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    123
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Thanks everyone, I kinda thought the gpu was the bottleneck, so getting the i5, will be good, and I can focus resources on an SSD to speed up load screens in swtor.

    I'm playing swtor on the laptop in my sig, its 4 yrs, old, this new one should give me a 4x improvement.

    thanks again
     
  13. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

    Reputations:
    5,398
    Messages:
    12,692
    Likes Received:
    2,717
    Trophy Points:
    631
    I would say an 8x improvement (overall) and it will feel like 10x, I'm sure. :)

    See current cpu PM 'score' 1627:
    PassMark CPU Lookup


    See new cpu PM 'score' 3827:
    PassMark - Intel Core i5-2450M @ 2.50GHz - Price performance comparison


    See current gpu PM 'score' 298:
    PassMark - GeForce 9650M GT - Price performance comparison


    See new gpu PM 'score' 1129:
    PassMark - Radeon HD 6750M - Price performance comparison



    Should be a tremendous upgrade.

    I'd still go for the i7 and 8GB RAM though, I don't think any of the PM 'scores' were generated on a dual core, imo. :)
     
  14. imglidinhere

    imglidinhere Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    387
    Messages:
    1,077
    Likes Received:
    59
    Trophy Points:
    66
    That CPU won't bottleneck SLI 580Ms. I highly doubt there's a setup today that it'll lag behind. :p

    The GPU is vastly behind what the CPU is capable of handling. :p