Toshiba qosmio i5 vs i7 (gaming)

Hey so I've had a Toshiba Satellite x200 for 3 years now and I was thinking of buying a new laptop since mine doesn't run some games on max settings anymore (like Bad Company 2).

My top choice is the new Toshiba X500 that's gonna be coming out pretty soon with the GeForce 460m.
Now my question is, if money is not an issue, what's gonna be better for gaming for the next 2-3 years?
The i5 450m with 2.4 Ghz dual core or the i7 740qm with 1.73 GHz quad core.
I mean the answer seems simple in terms of number of cores, but it seems that most modern games don't really use that much quad core processing but instead focus on 1 or 2 cores.
So what would be give better frame rates at 720p resolution max settings for games like Bad Company, or Crysis? quad core or dual core?

 

While quad-core may benefit some of the newer games, the simple truth is that the current i7s are not as powerful as they should be, and run pretty hot as a result of their 45nm architecture. Sandy Bridge should address those concerns, but we won't see it till Feb. at the earliest.

The current i5s are already 32nm, so they're pretty efficient. Compared to i7s, we won't see as big an improvement from Sandy Bridge, other than integrated graphics, which are meaningless in a powerful gaming notebook.

Unless you really require i7, I'd get an i5 right now. I wouldn't recommend i7 right now unless you are willing to wait all the way until Sandy Bridge launches.

 

i7-620M may be the best actually. Fastest 45nm dual-core

 

Correct, but CPU intensive games would still benefit from a quad. Plus it stands a better chance of running newer more multicore aware future game engines. But yea... Sandy Bridge is imminent, with release expected very soon. If you could wait, I would.

That one is a 32nm part. It's the highest quality i5 die out of the i5 yields.

 

I would say that games won't use quad core to 100%, but it makes gameplay a lot smoother - because various background OS threads don't have to interrupt game threads like they do on lower core CPUs.

 

I have the i5-450m and I like it.

It plays Fallout 3(after some configuring ) and GTA4 well. FO3 is about maxed and GTA4 looks better than the Xbox 360 version.

The lappy stays cool if I am not gaming, then is gets hot near the left speaker. lol

 

Look, I do agree that the architecture of the i5 is newer and in some small ways better, strangely enough. Obviously Intel, when they made the cheaper version of this gen's CPU's, endowed the i5's with a few minor advantages. But you simply cannot dismiss the huge performance difference between the dual and quad core chipsets.

This kind of sort of reminds me of GPU discussions. Most people, in their ignorance, naturally assume that the higher the number, the better the GPU, and obviously this is always the case. So when Radeon, for example, came out with the 5870 and made the budget cards on that architecture, such as the 5870, and 5850, many people not knowing think that the 5850 is a better card than the 4870. And you know what? While they ae wrong, the budget 5xxx series cards do have some slight advantages over the high end previous generation cards, right?

So in the same way, the i5, being a newer architecture, has some advantages over the i7, but overall the i7's are monsters, heat issues and all. And sure, most games NOW don't take advantage of the four cores, but what about a year from now? Two years? Would you want to be the one who invested in a brand new lappy that only has a dual core CPU?

Yes, you are right, Sandy Bridges is the best bet to wait for, best of both worlds. But if someone cannot wait, the ONLY REASONS I can possibly see for getting an i5 based lappy is financial, not performance.

 

How much performance though? This argument is akin to calling the 5870 and 460M DX11 GPUs. Yes, they can run DX11, but once DX11 really takes off, they'll struggle with it. Same thing with current i7s. If you're really concerned with quad-core gaming 2-3 years from now, not waiting for Sandy Bridge is rediculous.

 

I agree that it would be better to wait for the updated i7, but my point is if you have to buy one now, an all else being equal, you should get th i7 if you can.

 

But is the wait for Sandy Bridge really going to be worth it? I mean, if i have a good GPU (GeForce 460m) would Sandy Bridge really improve gaming performance that much? The Toshiba Qosmio would be my desktop replacement laptop as I would use it primarily for gaming and I need a laptop because I travel a lot so it's not sensible for me to buy a CPU right now.
I won't really be using my Qosmio for anything but gaming, and it's probably gonna be plugged in at all times.

 

Sandy Bridge isn't just adding a IGP. Right now, i7s can only Turbo Boost 1 core; if all 4 cores are in use, no boost. Sandy Bridge will fix that. Clock rates for the i7s are also going to rise, perhaps substantially.

 

The problem, however, I will assume is that the chipset will launch early next year for desktops, and who knows when they will make their way to lappys. Spring? Summer?

 

No, Intel has already said desktop and mobile CPUs will launch together. There's even a possibility that mobile CPUs will launch first, hard as it may seem.

 

Thanks a lot, a4500435.
I think i'm going to wait then for Sandy Bridge especially if it fixes the Turbo Boost issue.

 

Yes, it should fix the whole idea of Turbo-Boost. Intel has sort of copied what AMD has been doing for several years now. They've given all the SB CPU's multiple independent voltage planes for each core, meaning that each core can effectively overclock itself and do a better job of power management than the current i-series is capable of. All 4 physical cores of an i7 can each run at their own individual voltage. I think as a product of that, we'll see substantially improved battery life estimates, in addition to performance enhancements.

 

Technically there is nothing to "fix" because there is no problem.
When you mark CPU, you pick some "reference frequency", and then specify "boost frequencies", that are higher and happen in specific situations, and "power-save frequencies" that happen in other situations.

With i7 Intel decided to use frequency when all available cores under full load as CPU "base frequency" that used in marketing. That's why you don't see boost up on full cores, simply because its by definition. CPU still could downclock down from this frequency, it's not the minimum, just some agreed baseline.

Sounds like with Sandy Bridge for marketing reasons Intel will use one of the "power save" frequencies as baseline for CPU marking. That's how they could say that "it will boost even 4 cores are in use". What in fact it does, due to nature of term "boost", it allows notebook manufacturers to use poorer cooling systems - because when CPU overheats, it simply will refuse to "boost up", but because this called "a boost"(temporary by nature of term), consumer can not complain that he is not getting advertised performance. It's quite clever actually.

 

Now I got it, Thanks for your analysis!

 

It comes down to this.. not trying to argue but if you want the best in computers then you mise well wait forever.. technology will always exceed every 3 months.. I say go for what you can afford and have an interest in now. I love my Q896. My i7 920 overclocked to 4ghz in my desktop for sure out powers the 1.7ghz i7 740qm but believe me.. the i7 740qm actually amazes me for a laptop. Get you a nice cooler. and temps for cpu are amazing.. the temps without a cooler arent bad at all to be honest.

 

That's true, however some technology improvements are bigger than others. The jump from Pentium to Core Duo is one example of a huge leap. For i7s at least, the jump from Core i7 to Sandy Bridge i7 is just as big, if not bigger.

 

Which cooler are you using ?

 

I do agree with ya A4500435.. They are going to be sweet. If the original poster of this thread wants to wait till mid 2011 then go ahead. But If he were to wait it out.. I'd wait till Sandy bridge+ Better graphics chips.. atleast a gtx480m but that wont happen. I wanted a laptop to game on while I went away for the weekends.. the i7 740 is decent enough. Bad Company 2 doesnt run near as smooth on high settings at 1080p as compared to my desktop but its just fine for on the go gaming and WoW just runs flawless on this laptop so i'm mainly happy about that lol.

Alexmuw... I have the Zalman nc2000 that i've used with my old Gateway fx 7801u. I am waiting on the Cryo LX to get here, The fans are fitted for the x505 chassis.

If the the new Sandybridge is in the same x505 chassis then i'm sure you can find a mobo and swap em out if you REALLY wanted to upgrade.. My Gateway fx 7801u was originally a 6811 that the mobo failed so I replaced it with the 7801u