Faster CPU now or upgrade later...

I am trying to decide if it is worth the added expense to get a faster CPU when I order my Sager this month. My thoughts are that this is a part that can be upgraded by myself and the lower end i7 should be fine for a while, and by the time it isn't, it will be more affordable to upgrade. Would love to hear a variety of opinions on this.

 

You have to give us more information than that..

If the lower i7 is sufficient, there is really no reason to upgrade to the higher models.. right?..

CPUs will drop in price as time goes by, so if you are certain that the lower i7 will suffice, I see no reason now to upgrade to a higher CPU.

Enjoy your machine!

 

If you are buying this machine mainly to game, the standard i7 2630QM is plenty sufficient and will be for some time to come
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I am trying to decide if I want an i7-2630QM or go up to an i7-2760QM. Trying to weigh the positives and negatives.

 

I would wait, hearing 2670qm coming out with 2.2ghz-3.1 (upgrade of 200 mhz)-next month/or early Nov?, which I getting as gaming. The 2720qm/2760qm those niche stuff like vt-i and vt-x. Which I don't know but it use to Vmware or something. Maybe someone else can go into detail.

Ivy bridge is coming next year, dont know if the 2600k and 2700k version get replaces with Ivy bridge next year.

 

The 2720QM is quad core with 8 threads (hyperthreaded). Certain games, particularly Battlefield 3, utilize quad core very well. You'd not need to swap out CPUs for quite some time, if ever (given socket changes, it's likely you'll get a new machine by that time).

I'd get the 2720QM. Or 2760QM. Whichever. Probably good to wait for the 2760QM for the slightly higher speed bin.

 

Also of note is the fact that upgrading now is significantly cheaper than buying a new CPU later and swapping out. It's always better to get the best GPU/CPU you can buy up front as while they're technically user replaceable, they're rather expensive.

 

Yes it is good to note the price if you want to upgrade later.

As a stand alone purchase, the Genuine OEM Intel i7-2760QM lists for $405.00 right now...
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given that the 2630qm is also a quad....

but the point is the 2760qm is kind of a good upgrade compared to the older 2720qm, when you are considering upping the cpu from the 2630qm.

Since gaming is the olny priority as it appears, the money would be better invested in a good gpu

 

I've decided on a 6990, so the faster CPU was my next decision.

 

OK.

There are probably three choices you could make here.

#1 Feel the 2630qm is enough, save for later upgrades.
#2 Price to performance ratio is optimal(or so it is said to be) for the 2760qm, so do that now to hit the sweet spot!
#3 Get the best now, money isn't something to worry about.

The more and more I think about it, I feel that you should either get #2 or #3 because, the 2630qm, being the basic quad for most OEM vendors, will not sell well as all others eith Sandy Bridge are likely to have them already.

#2 would be the viable option, as 2760qm hits the sweet spot and there are going to be demands for these, majority of which will be those who have the 2630qm and below.

#3 is what you might want to end up in the future, but from the looks and feels of your replies here it seems that you are really questioning the costs it takes now to get the best, and the XM's are not meant for people of such sort, as it is intended for enthusiasts and overclockers with high usage of CPU programs.

For now, I would recommend that you take the middle road and get what would have the most demand in the future, so that you would have a relatively easy path of upgrading if you feel the need to.

Cheers.

 

Ooooh, my mistake about the 2630QM not being quad. Should have checked Intel's Ark first.

Well I still stick by the 2760QM for the extra features like VT-d and such. You never truly know you will not need those. There could be some day way down the road where such a thing will be needed. It's always good to plan for the future!

Here's the Ark links for each CPU:

2630QM: Intel® Core? i7-2630QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.00 GHz)
2760QM: Intel® Core? i7-2760QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.40 GHz)

Good to note that the 2760QM has a higher base clock frequency without turbo.

 

Trying to weigh the positives and negatives.



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Sometimes we may get a faster CPU for bragging rights. Of course this is ok and good.

However, a good percentage of the members here will notice little difference or even no difference between let's say the 2760QM and the 2670QM in what they do.
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