Worth an upgrade from 7970m?

hi all, i have a Clevo P170em with a 7970m and i7 3610QM, SSD, HDD, 8gb ram and modded intakes.
The gpu is oc'd to 1025 core and 1570 mem which gives me 5580p in 3DMARK.

Since im a student and have gotten some space cash, what should i upgrade to play intensive games with higher settings?
My budget is around max of 500 Euros.

thx

 

Depends on the games you play.

If they're cpu intensive; a cpu upgrade would give you the most bang for the buck (although I wouldn't recommend it; I would do a complete platform upgrade instead - by, selling what you have now and buying the newest platform available (Broadwell).

If they're gpu intensive; a gpu upgrade (if possible on your system) would be the way to go.

Either way; with the system you now have and the additional cash budget of 500 Euros, I would be buying a current platform (and selling the current system) rather than upgrading individual components.

That is my route for best bang for the buck (long term).

Good luck.

 

If those clocks are stable in games that is a pretty hefty OC. I don't think you would see a tangible improvement unless you go to the top with the 880M.

At this point though you should wait until tonga and Maxwell are properly released. Which games you can't play at 1025/1570?

I think at this point though your cpu is the weak point. 3610qm is probably holding you back. My 920xm at it's current clocks just beat it in passmark. Get your hands on a 3920xm and I think you will see better performance.

 

well i can play the games i want, but im hungry for preformance and more fps.
which cpu do u think gives most preformance when overclocked for cash?

 

Well you could put a 3940Xm in it.. Depends on how cheap you find it.. You might be able to get a 3920Xm for cheaper or even a 3840QM should be a good upgrade.. Personally, I got the 3940XM as I got a great deal for it..

 

Go for an XM. With throttlestop it will blow away the QM chips.

I use throttlestop with my old XM and it is now able to beat your 2 gen newer chip and not even at it's limit. Imagine the 3920/40XM with throttlestop. Power unleashed.

 

Ive looked on ebay and a 3940XM and they cost about 300 euros which is alot just for a cpu when most games are based on gpu's.

 

Get a 3920xm. No difference really. Yes you will find a difference in games the 3920xm oced can beat your chip 50-100% depending on how high you push it. Your minimum frame rate will jump and more and more games do use stronger CPUs.


On the go from my iPod touch

 

Except you can't OC the 3920XM to 4.7-6.2 GHz, which is what it takes to beat the 3.1 GHz 3610QM by 50-100%. Typical max OC I've seen for the 3920/3940XM is 4.4-4.6 GHz. I've seen 3770K's get around 5 GHz, but obviously they have much better cooling. Everyday usable/stable clocks of course, not LN2-cooled e-peen numbers.

You could OC your 920XM by 65% (2.26 GHz to 3.73 GHz) because it was already clocked so low to begin with. Obviously, you can't expect the same percentage increase from a 3920XM that already starts at 3.6 GHz. +65% would take it to ~6 GHz which is absurd.

 

I'm fairly certain you'd see more noticable gains in most games upgrading your GPU rather than your CPU.

 

So this is more of a "want" than a "need" correct? In all honesty if I were you I would save that money and put it towards a new laptop at some point in the future. The most you can upgrade to is the 680M in the P170EM, and unless you plan on running some crazy clocks with a heavy overvolt, it won't be worth the money. Don't even bother with the CPU, and certainly not an XM chip, as the cooling just isn't quite up to par.

 

If there was something worthwhile to upgrade to in the first place...

hi2: Maxwell and Tonga.)

 

That is quite a surprise. The 3610qm is only 50% at best slower than a heavy OCed 3940xm! So the 3840qm has to be pretty powerful! What is point of the xm chips lol

It is also good to know my ageing 920xm is only 45% slower than the best! With both at their limits.
On the go from my iPod touch

 

Yeah the XM's are a joy to tinker with. Unless its a Haswell.

 

Well with Haswell it's a different kind of joy -- the kind that comes when you finally manage to get thermals under control. Intel decided to play a different game with Haswell you see.

 

LOL just realized that n=1 used to be rhutor.

 

Try your luck with selling the 7970M, use those $250+ you get on the sale plus the $670 to buy a GTX 780M or wait until Maxwell and Tonga is here for much greater performance.

 

I know the feeling all too well