i5-3210M vs i7-3610QM (FPS in games)

Glad to give you another viewpoint.

I keep saying it; an SSD will do nothing to improve compute performance: only the cpu/platform and RAM combo will.

An SSD will improve O/S responsiveness and 'snap' and certain other specific productivity metrics (PDF creation/editing, database, VM's, etc.) - but improve 'PERFORMANCE/PRODUCTIVITY' in the way a cpu/RAM upgrade does? Not in any real world cases I have seen.


While Windows 8 isn't necessarily a performance boost by itself - it does have the underlying architecture to utilize the newest hardware such as SSD's, to their fullest potential. In my U30Jc for example (old, 8GB RAM i3 350m Arrandale based system that is used now as my digital notebook...) the Sandisk Extreme SSD finally started behaving like an SSD only when I installed Win8 on it.

As to the car analogy; it may seem cut and dried that car A is faster than car B - but in my experience; that is only true depending which driver was driving which car.

(To bring this back to the cpu's: the 'driver' here is the O/S - which is constantly changing and demanding more and more of the hardware to make it seem even more 'effortless' to the user).

 

I might get the windows 8 upgrade then afterall. Going to ask the RAM and OS upgrade's for christmas then i think Eventho people say windows 8 belongs on tablets. Intresting to see this. I really have no experience with software so this is an eye opener. Finding my way around in the computer world since september when i started looking for a notebook and im learning new things evryday..

But when you use your computer for only non-multi tasking purposes will there be any advantage from a quad core cpu?

I'd really look forward to doing benchmarks with my machine and comparing them to those quad core machines.

 

In general web browsing and office productivity, you won't notice any difference in performance in between a modern dual core and a modern quad core. In that way, benchmarks don't tell the whole story: a quad core will inevitably bench higher, but what does that mean for your usage?

In fact, if battery life is a primary concern, the dual core will last longer on a charge (although later-generation quad core CPUs have improved dramatically in this aspect).

For your work, if 3D-CAD and simulations are an important part of your workflow, I would consider opting for a quad core CPU. But, if you would have to do so at the expense of a FHD screen, I would opt to stick with a dual core CPU. There's a huge productivity difference between a FHD and an HD screen, much more than the minutes/seconds a quad core CPU would typically save you.

 

I've always been hearing that the GPU is the bottleneck for your preformance rather than the CPU. I was wondering if the same is true for 3D CAD. Do you benefit more from upgrading your GPU or CPU? I've noticed an improvement in my desktop from upgrading the GPU a few weeks ago it was upgraded to an HD6950 but im already running on a quad core ofcourse.

What system will preform better:
i5 3210, 650m GDDR5 2gb
or
i7 3610QM, lets say a 610m

 

Pretty sure it'd depend more or less.. completely on the type of workloads you have.