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    The i5 vs. the i7... the i5 inferior?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by Bryce2826, Oct 1, 2011.

  1. Bryce2826

    Bryce2826 Newbie

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    Most, if not all, of the people who post their m14x specs seem to have the i7 processor. I recently ordered an m14 with the i5 instead, to save a few bucks. was it really worth the extra 90 dollars tacked onto the core price? And will i still be able to run games like Battlefield 3 on this processor?

    If not, what would be the cost to upgrade?
     
    Bryce2826, Oct 1, 2011
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  2. Mobius 1

    Mobius 1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    somebody sold their i5 in ebay and bought a 2.2GHz i7 for less (or the same) as dell's 2GHz i7
     
    Mobius 1, Oct 1, 2011
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  3. Kristofer

    Kristofer Notebook Guru

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    I just answered this question in another thread so I will post the same answer here.


    Though the base clock is higher in the i5 than the i7 2630QM, the i5 2410M has 2 cores and 3MB cache as opposed to the i7's 4 cores and 6MB cache. Here are some comparison charts for you.


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    In addition, the i7 can handle DDR3 1600MHz memory while the i5 can only handle DDR3 1333MHz memory.


    Most of the newer games are not very processor intensive so generally you will not see a major difference. The GPU is more likely to become outdated before the CPU does. However, there may be some performance differences with games that are more CPU intensive.
     
    Kristofer, Oct 1, 2011
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  4. DarkFame

    DarkFame Notebook Enthusiast

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    What's good about the i5 is the TDP. It's 10W lower than the i7, which makes the laptop run a bit cooler. 6MB vs 3MB L3 cache + the extra cores/threads makes the i7 a lot better at number crunching (encoding, rendering etc.). Plus some games do not use PhysX for physics, and therefore depend on the CPU (like Havok, which is being used in many popular games).
     
    DarkFame, Oct 2, 2011
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  5. Coflash

    Coflash Notebook Consultant

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    Of course it's inferior.

    It might not benefit you to buy it, but yes, it is.
     
    Coflash, Oct 2, 2011
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  6. justinmpierson

    justinmpierson Notebook Enthusiast

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    the i7 mobile processors are very expensive to upgrade, I had posted earlier about the cost differences and you have skipped the memory upgrade and gone with the faster cpu. You should be able to run B3 just fine, just expect to have to turn down some settings to get higher framerates.
     
    justinmpierson, Oct 2, 2011
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  7. trooper1414

    trooper1414 Notebook Deity

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    Can we please have the original thread which contained the i5 vs i7 discussion as a sticky , as it is getting annoying that people keep asking the same question and the members have to keep pasting thr old answers everywhere, for instance today when i logged on ...i saw two threads asking the same question....No offense to the author of the thread ...am just helping the community get a bit more organized...thanks!! Hope my comments are taken in a positive manner
     
    trooper1414, Oct 2, 2011
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