i7-2960XM vs (i7 3740qm, 3720qm, 3520qm, 3360qm)

Hello.

How does the i7-2960XM fare against the above listed processors.

I've been reviewing benchmarks from various sites and got different answers.
How can an extreme processor from the previous generation with a higher clock rate be lower placed on the benchmark tables.
Is this a marketing ploy?

 

There is a small difference clock for clock in favor of ivy (not much really) and also be sure to check the turbo clocks as well. On 4 cores, my 3720qm runs at 3.4GHz (which is around the clock a 2960xm would run at at full turbo on 4 cores provided cooling is adequate), you'd need to clock your 2960xm a little higher than that to bench equally high. Overclock the hell out of it though and it'll perform faster than the processors you listed.

 

Thanks again for the quick response tijo.

I've reviewed the 2960XM online and it's Turbo clock is 3.7Ghz which is higher than most of the listed Ivy Bridge processors so why is this still not obtaining a higher benchmark?
Is the 3720qm when set into turbo at 3.6Ghz still faster?
Ivy can't be clock for clock that much better can it?

 

What about other factors like ram speeds of the systems being compared.


To make it fair you would have to have one ivy bridge system to test all of the CPUs in.

 

to note the i7 3520QM doesnt exicst. THe 3520 is a dual core processor.

 

Get a 3940XM lol

 

Execution enhancements Sandy bridge -> Ivy bridge (from memory):
. MOV elimination. Under some circumstances MOV instructions (that are relatively common in x86 code) doesn't require execution resources. Pathological code could get a significant boost but real code? Not much, some percentages perhaps.
. Dynamic shared hardware resources between "Hyperthreading" threads. If one thread can use more resources than the other it can execute faster than previously. Impact depends on code but should be small.
. Somewhat enhanced data prefetch. Not much difference.
. Enhanced REP MOVSB/STOSB. Shouldn't make any difference (it's mostly helping programmers).

A 2960XM should still beast unless it's thermally limited. Disabling turbo and using a higher base clock should crush the rest...

 

From Wikipedia: core i7-2960xm, base frequency: 2.7Ghz; Turbo ratios: 7/7/9/10. List of Intel Core i7 microprocessors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That means that the CPU is running at 2.7 GHz+ 7x100 MHz on 4 cores or 3.4GHz, the same clock speed as the 3720qm. The 3.7GHz clock is when the CPU is operating on 1 core only, again, be careful, the turbo isn't the same when you're using 4,3,2 or 1 core. Now without overclock, on 4 cores both the CPUs I mentioned are running at 3.4GHz, sinceivy is slightly faster clock for clock, you get the picture.

Now, if you look at some benchmarks, the 2960xm comes ahead of the 3630qm in some benchmarks since the 3630qm is clocked slightly lower, but you still have the ivy vs sandy performance difference (which isn't much by the way). Same goes for lower clocked CPUs like the 3520m, on multithreaded benchmarks, the 2960xm will outperform that one, but single threaded benchmarks will likely favor the 3520m, but only slightly.

moral hazard also made a good point, other factors like memory can also skew the results a little depending on the benchmark.

To quote myself regarding the 2960xm:

That is the only way you'll outperform the 3720qm and up.

 

I push 3.8ghz across all 4 cores on my 3720qm, 4.1 on a single core turbo. Pretty dang quick.

 

Need more cores

 

If you have the option of the extra 4 unlocked multis in the bios, then yeah you cna do that, but imo that counts as mild overclocking (allowed by Intel), but still OC'ing.

 

Kinda disappointed Haswell mobile won't be hexacore :\

 

It is indeed. I'm also disapointed in the performance. Rumors were that it would be at least 30% faster, but it's a mere 10% faster. The generation after Haswell should be Hexacore, I don't see why it wouldn't. Intel should be able to put at least six cores in their CPU's by then. That should definitely be a huge jump in performance.

Six cores, twelve threads, overclocking would be intense.

 

intel has had a recent history of falling short on grand promises. Remember how ivy bridge was supposed to be more powerful then sandy bridge, but with only HALF the power consumption? Not even close.

 

I have to disagree with the last few posts here.

Intel doesn't fall short of any promises - it delivers them when it is appropriate for their bottom line. That bottom line includes taking into account possible actions against them for anti-competitive practices. I don't want to start a discussion on if/when/what they have done already in that area - I just want to point out that while they're in the driver's seat of the corporation - it doesn't mean that they're the only driver.

I am fully confident that Intel could release everything it has promised (and then some) today. But if that were to happen I am also sure that Intel would be blown to a million smaller companies and be less effective, less driven and less focused than they are now as a single unit.

IB is more powerful and uses less power than SNB - I see it everyday in the systems I'm using.

When I push the IB systems to their full potential - of course the power consumption goes up - but so does the productivity too. When I have a quad core i7 3623QM platform last the better part of 8 hours with light usage (I'm showing different versions of the same images, for example) on battery power - I am more than impressed. That same system when used to convert RAW image files down to ~50MB jpegs barely lasts 90 minutes - but the comparable SNB platform would be closer to an hour (and with less images converted too).

I am happy with where Intel is now: they're pushing the performance and power envelopes in the right direction: measured in real world usage. And they're doing it at amazing (vs. prior years) price points too.

 

The Ivy bridge processors such as the 3720QM/3740QM and 3820QM/3840QM are a bit faster than the 2960XM at stock. However, the point of having a XM processor is you can overclock it. You can easily get more performance than the four ivy locked quads with overclocking the 2960XM. My 920XM can overclock and match Sandy Bridge processors yet sandy bridge was a big improvement over nehalem compared to ivy from sandy.

 

How does the 2960xm fare against the 2920xm?

There about £100 difference between the two - Is this price justified?

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

For that much you get 200 MHz higher stock speed...but that's not gonna matter if you can overclock the CPU. So no, when it comes to the Extreme CPUs anything higher than the lowest one is pretty much a huge waste of money (for me atleast)

 

given that the difference in so small it isnt.

 

Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech

For that much you get 200 MHz higher stock speed...but that's not gonna matter if you can overclock the CPU. So no, when it comes to the Extreme CPUs anything higher than the lowest one is pretty much a huge waste of money (for me atleast)

 

Couple of clarifications:
1) SB vs IB clocks for clocks performance is ~5% at best overall. You need about 100-200mhz bump on a SB CPU to beat the competition in almost every benchmark, except for those artificially inflating IB scores.

2) Heat concerns. 37x0 and 38x0 QM's run relatively cool even when OC'ed by 400mhz. Both 29x0XM and 39x0XM run very hot with the later being the hottest and more resistant to OC'ing. You can blow away any and every IB CPU with a 29x0XM @4.5ghz+ BUT you will have to deal with heat, lots of it. Even the 3-piped HS (AW M18x) won't let you get to 4.5ghz across the board and there's no notebook in the world with adequate cooling to allow extreme OC level on those chips.

So, realistically, a mildly OC'ed 3840QM would probably be the best choice for long term stability and optimal performance.

 

When I upgraded my current laptop with what can be seen in the signature I had to chose between the 2960xm (which I got at a very low price) and any other IB CPU and basically what everybody else said on the previous pages, made me consider it over IB cpu. I am very happy with it, except the temps.

Talking about the 2960xm and heat, can anybody tell me if it's alright for my XM to hit 100 degrees in about 20 minutes of BF3? I have to use TS to limit it to max 3ghz where it hits max 91-92degrees after no matter what I do to it. Otherwise, it will throttle every 3-4 minutes. I am using AS5 as thermal paste and can't think of any mod I can do the cooling system to lower the temps.

 

Since BF3 is a graphics-intensive game, you can probably put a lower limit on the CPU clock without losing too much performance. You can also use the computer in a cooler place!

 

Still those are pretty high temps, did you clean the cooling system from dust etc? The 2960Xm cant be running that hot at those clocks right?