i7 2630QM vs i7 740QM

This question is specifically in reference to a notebook that will be used as a dedicated desktop replacement, plugged in 100% of the time, power consumption/battery life will be of zero concern, having said that, is the higher clock speed (2.0ghz vs 1.73ghz) the only advantage the 2630qm has over the 740qm? which according to my math gives it about a 13% performance gain, or are there other advantages as well? thanks.

 

The i7 2630QM uses Intel's newer Sandy Bridge architecture. The architecture is faster clock for clock.

 

There is about a 20% boost clock-for-clock as well as the higher base clockspeed, so the 2630qm will be a bit faster but both are sufficient for nearly all tasks. If price is about the same, then I'd go with the 2630, but if it's significantly more expensive, the 740qm will be fine. That's what I have in my laptop, and with the exception of the final mission of ArmA 2 (which my desktop can barely play adequately), I haven't noticed any CPU bottlenecks.

If you're asking about this for gaming, I'd take a 740qm paired with a better GPU over a 2630qm paired with a weaker one.

 

It destroys the 740qm. It pwns even the i7-940xm (stock frequencies). And the battery life is much, much better.


The explanation : there's a 16% higher base clock, not 13. And since Sandy Bridge turbo has much more room on 3 or 4 cores the difference will often be more important (it should be able to stabilize at 2.3/2.4ghz when the old one maxes at 1,86ghz). Then you can add 15% average boost from the architecture. 16% and 15% already gives you a 33% boost.

 

And depending on what software you run, you may never see the difference. This is not to say that the i7-2630QM doesn't have a very nice boost over the i7-740QM, but the sad fact of the matter is that an i7-740QM is "good enough" for 90% of the programs and usages out there.

 

True enough. It's nice for emulators though .

But battery life is really the strongest argument in favor of the sandy bridge cpu.

 

speaking of emulators, has anyone tried ps2/wii emulation with sandy bridge CPUs? In theory, they should be able to handle it much better than the old i7s.

 

Performance in a mobile platform (think max cooling ability...) is the biggest argument for SB.

The only thing above the new SB cpu's is the $1,000 extreme cpu's. And even there, only in select scenarios.

See:
The Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition Processor Review : Core i7-990X: Fast Enough To Be The New King?


You can say the i7 740QM was adequate in 2010 - but in 2011 and on, the SB platforms will offer increasingly better performance (better than 98/99% of all desktop systems) and will do so while being cooler too.

Especially used as the OP suggested (plugged in 100% of the time - presumably running flat out too), the SB platform has so many advantages over the old tech that stating otherwise is ignoring how much of an advance this platform is.

When used to 'transcode' video to different formats the advantage of the SB architecture can be 12x or more.

Good luck.

 

I've read about it on the pcsx2 forum, it seems there's a 10% fps gain on average when compared with a similarly clocked lynnfield. Maybe in the next versions with AVX support the gap will widen.

 

I believe Gabest has already worked on AVX and doesn't like them. Maybe next generation =p

Don't hold me to that, I check every new revision but I often forget.

 

Only 10% increase? That's kinda disappointing, hope the future revisions will take advantage of AVX somehow.

 

After looking at Intels website it looks like I could just drop a 2630qm in my Studio 1557.Is this right?

The 720qm and 2630qm have the same socket (RPGA988)or am I missing something.

I mean I know the BIOS wont show it correctly but in theory it should work?

 

The 2630qm requires a SB compatable Mobo. That means LGA 1155. You probably have LGA 1156.

 

10% clock-for-clock. The real boost in heavily multi-threaded scenarios is more like 40-50%.

 

No, you can't. They don't use the same socket. Sandy Bridge mobile CPUs use FCPGA988, but your notebook has PGA988. Also, the chipsets aren't cross-compatible.

@Hungry Man: Those are the desktop sockets.

 

Damn!!!!!!

 

I heard they were rPGA988A/G1 (for Arrandale/Clarksfield) and rPGA988B/G2 (for Sandy Bridge), but the point is still the same.

 

i wonder if there is a difference in quicksync performance between sandybridge mobile quads

 

I'm trying to decide between Toshiba P770 w/ 2630qm and Sony VPCEC49X with 640m. The prices are about the same. I will be using the laptop mainly for running single threaded applications (e.g. R statistical package). It looks like 640m has a higher clock speed of 2.8ghz while 2630 is slower at 2ghz. Would it make sense to go with 640m. Any suggestions?

thanks!

 

No, it would make no sense at all.

Get the newest platform (always - well, almost always... ) and enjoy.

See:
PassMark - Intel Core i7-2630QM @ 2.00GHz - Price performance comparison


See:
PassMark - Intel Core i7 640M @ 2.80GHz - Price performance comparison

 

Thanks a lot for the advice and for the pointers!

 

SB will crush nehalem on any mobile platform. just get any SB cpu and you'll be ok.