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    i7 xxxm vs i7 2xxxm (sandy bridge vs Nehalem)

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by KillerBunny, Feb 13, 2011.

  1. KillerBunny

    KillerBunny Notebook Evangelist

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    Hi guys, I'm pretty new to this stuff so I don't have a lot of practical experience. I'm interested in how the new core-i series (sandy bridge) matches up against the old. I know the i7 920xm and 940xm are overclockable with throttlestop to acheive fantastic speeds. I'm just wondering how the i7-2820qm and i7-2720qm match up. I was looking at the 2720 and 2820 today, and it said that they could run all 4 cores at 3.0Ghz and 3.1Ghz respectively. That seems pretty ridiculous, can the 920xm and 940xm match that? Thanks guys.
     
    KillerBunny, Feb 13, 2011
    #1
  2. Judicator

    Judicator Judged and found wanting.

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    If the cooling system in the notebook can take it, easily.
     
    Judicator, Feb 13, 2011
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  3. Trottel

    Trottel Notebook Virtuoso

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    The Sandy Bridge chips are 32nm whereas the nehalem chips are 45nm, so the Sandy Bridge chips can clock higher within the same thermal and power limitations (what constrains overclocking on a laptop).
     
    Trottel, Feb 13, 2011
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  4. Peon

    Peon Notebook Virtuoso

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    The SB quad cores can only hold 3+ ghz when all 4 cores are active for 25 seconds maximum. On a typical notebook, it'll probably be a lot shorter than that. The few reviews out there that were published before the chipset recall indicate that stable turbo is somewhere in the 2.4-2.8ghz range when all 4 cores are active.

    That said, SB will almost certainly be a better (manual) overclocker than Nehalem was.
     
    Peon, Feb 13, 2011
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  5. Judicator

    Judicator Judged and found wanting.

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    If comparing Extreme processor to Extreme processor (920/940XM to 2920XM), sure (although there are hints that the Sandy Bridge extreme processor is lockable through BIOS), but the OP's question was about the Extreme processors against the 2720QM and 2820QM, which are not currently manually overclockable as far as I know.
     
    Judicator, Feb 13, 2011
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  6. Botsu

    Botsu Notebook Evangelist

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    You need a good OC on the 920/940xm to match Sandy Bridge in performance as well as an efficient, possibly loud cooling system.
     
    Botsu, Feb 14, 2011
    #6