Anyone Get an R3 I5?

I was just wondering if the 200+ dollars was worth just getting the I7 r3 over the I5; anyone have supporting benchmarks? BTW this is my first post sorry if it was in the wrong place

 

you're in the right place, and I'm wondering the same about i5 vs i7. You can look up the cpu's individually for benchmarks. I'm waiting to get some figures on the differences in this particular machine - both performance wise and for battery life.

 

indeed i actually ordered an I5 r3 cause I'm cheap, but i hope to get the most out of it... it will be here 5/25 ill have plenty of benchmarks to come

 

if you can afford it i'd say go for the i7, but if you choose the i5, you will still have a half decent lappy!

 

My goal was to keep it under a 1000 dollars so after the -50 i got it for 969 so i think whats decent i knew i should have bought when the 350 coupon worked

 

This has been asked quite a bit around the M11x R2.

The only differences between an M11x R3 Core i5 vs Core i7 is a small bump in clock speed (1.4Ghz --> 1.5Ghz), and a small bump in cache memory (3MB --> 4MB).

Benchmarks and testing over the past 15 years have repeatedly shown that small incremental bumps in CPU clock speed do not impact real-world performance. Your applications won't load noticeably faster, and your games won't run smoother.

If someone gave you a free upgrade to a Core i7, definitely take it. But if it's a matter of spending $200 to get a Core i7, then definitely get the Core i5. If you want to spend that $200 on something that will actually yield a practical performance benefit, get an SSD instead.

 

Kent, don't forget you also get Hyperthreading.

 

Thanks Kent that is how i was looking at it too... go go SSD....wait a sec I5 doesn't have Hyper threading? i thought i read they both do...

 

They both have hyperthreading.

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=54616,54619,

As a matter of fact they are identical in every way except:

1. Max and min speeds: 1.4-2.3GHz / 1.5-2.6GHz
2. Smart Cache: 3MB / 4MB
3. Integrated GPU: 900MHz / 950MHz

None of that will make any considerable difference in any game. I'm finding that those "ranged" clock speeds are just marketing crap. The i5 may be able to run sustained two cores at same clocks as the i7, only the i7 can "spike" to a higher speed, not necessarily even reaching the 2.6GHz.

 

Hmm, I guess it does. Odd.

Intel® Core? i5-2537M Processor (3M Cache, 1.40 GHz)with SPEC Code(s)SR03W

 

The i5 has hyperthreading with four cores as well... Just like the r2 did with both the i5 and i7 models

 

Oh well, guess I paid a little extra for 1mb of extra cache, and 100mhz of speed.

Still, I don't recall any chips coming with Hyperthreading besides i7's. I think they just lied and said that it's an i5.

At least I got all the coupons off in time.

 

That's Intel marketing. All Core i3/i5/i7's have hyperthreading, even the previous gen. i3's just didn't have turbo boost.

 

It appears that for the price at this moment of time, to physically see an improvement it terms of performance an SSD is a worthy upgrade, save you $200 and buy an SSD instead, or wait until the IVY BRIDGE is available!

 

IVY Bridge? Will it be availlable on R3?

 

I got an i5 too.

OP, I know exactly what you mean: I was also trying to keep it as cheap as possible since it wasn't my main machine. I remember posting the deal I got in the Ordering Advice Thread. It was something like $700 after tax and shipping.

Sure as hell, I wasn't going to add a $200 i7 on it when I had such a sweet deal. Like others have said, I would much rather throw in a SSD, which will give you noticeably performance increase.

Unfortunately my M11x is still in the box. It arrived yesterday. I will open it tomorrow after my Cryptography exam...

 

Very informative thread! Thanks for clarifying the i5 vs i7

 

$700 for an M11x R3? Wow. I should have jumped on that. I'm sure I could get a solid $400 for my M11x R1. Then again, if I can get the CPU to 2GHz, then it will probably be just about as fast as the i5, barring the GPU which is a little less powerful than the 540m.

 

Yeah bro. Of course it was originally $775 after tax and shipping but I did score a $75 Dell Gift Card too so that's how I got $700. We actually ended up buying 2 at that price (one for my brother-in-law). Oh, and Free Next Day Delivery FTW!

Anyway, with all the mods you can do on the R1, it would make no sense to exchange it for an R3. This just happened to be my first M11x and at that price, I couldn't pass it up. Maybe I will post some pics here tomorrow (with the M17x) after I open it.

(Your avatar has me thinking about that game a lot, lol)

 

No definately not sonny, but some one like bill gates could have it tho...

 

Ivy Bridge? Lol. Machines built on that tech won't be out until beginning of 2012 at earliest. Next M11x will probably have it though (R4 or M12x?)

 

It will be called the M11 Tripple X! (M11xXx)

 

anybody have benchmarked the m11x r3 i5 with some games? I planning selling my m11x r1 for having a r3, is the gaming a huge boost for the i5 and the gt 540?

 

Please let us know what games you're playing, the performance you're receiving, and the boost you're hoping to get in those games. I have an R3 I5 version, I'll help if I can.

 

the games that need a boost on my r1 are bfbc2, red faction guerilla, crysis 2 and sc2
Im getting performance drops on bfbc2 playing on 32 man multiplayer servers
in the other games I just want to improve them

other games like tf2, css, portal, magicka, terraria, half life, and other runs great

Im guessing the i5 will get some boost on processor dependant games like bfbc2 witch is the one that is really umplayable

 

I go the i5 version, but some reason, my gpu never turns on...

 

I ordered the i5 model as well. I'm putting 8GB of CAS7 1333mhz memory and a momentus XT 500GB drive as soon as it arrives on the 7th.

Since 95% of all the reviews and benchmarks are for the i7 model, I'll do a little review and benchmark and let ya'll know what I think.

I'll benchmark the following:

Games:
Crysis 2 1.9 DX11
Metro 2033
Flight Simulator X Acceleration
Bad Company 2
BulletStorm
Dirt3
Fable III
Starcraft II

Synthetics:
3DMark 06, Vantage, 11
PCMark 7
SuperPI
NovaBench

 

Really looking forward to what Alienware offers for their next M11x iteration. From what I can tell the M11x is a huge success, so can only imagine they will continue to offer it or some variation of it. I will most likely spring for the next iteration, probably will be Ivy Bridge, but will only buy on discount because I think their normal pricing is way too high for any machine. Base config at $600, maybe $700 seems best, and build on it from there. But $999 is too steep imho.

 

While I have not yet received my m11x, from what I've read, the gpu not turning on is a problem with the nvidia drivers and optimus not turning on and needing to whitelist the program. There are a couple of threads in this subforum that describe whitelisting.

Try this thread

 

nice man! I'll be checking for that data to further decide to get the i5 r3

 

I finally got that problem fixed, installed the new drivers... Now I'm trying to figure out how I can have the same performance when I have it unplugged as I do when I unplug it...

 

That is a driver based setting. nVidia PowerMizer is the setting that determines what state the GPU runs in based on power settings.

Try this site: http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/261929-disable-powermizer-tested.html

Not sure if it will work for us, but it worked before for me on my Sager with a GTX285m. Be warned - our batteries only last about an hour of pure hard gaming, and thats with the power optimization on. You're looking at 30-45 minutes with powermizer off.

 

Alright I have the first benchmarks in. I'll be posting more over the next couple of days here in this post. Let me know if you have any specifics you want tested.

My general consensus - The Core i5 in the m11x R3 is extremely capable. I've not played a game on the system that I haven't been able to play and maximum or close to maximum settings. I'd say hold off on the additional $200 i7 unless you are doing some pretty CPU intensive stuff. Spend that money on one of the new 550MB/sec SSD drives from Corsair or a 1TB drive and a good case. This CPU series really shows off that working smarter, not faster, is the most efficient way of getting things done and it has proved to be what way in absolutely everything I've tested.

System Specs:
Alienware m11x R3
Windows 7 SP1 x64 Patched to 7-1-2011
Core i5 2537m at 1.4Ghz (up to 2.3Ghz Turbo Boost)
8GB DDR3 PC1333 CAS8
nVidia GT540m 1GB - (GPU|SHADER|MEM): 672|1344|900
Overclocked GT540m 1GB - (GPU|SHADER|MEM): 800:1600:1025 ( appx 18% increase)
Seagate Momentus XT 500GB Hard Drive
Ambient Temperate: 75F
Testing Surface: Wooden Desk, no additional cooling

A note on overclocked speeds -While I was able to complete all overclocked tests at the frequencies specified above,
extended gameplay was not achievable. I've found on my system that 780/1560/1000 are very reliable and the GPU never goes
above 80C. These GPUs and CPUs are very well binned.

Synthetics
3DMark 06: 8563 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score 3862
HDR/SM3.0 Score 3561
CPU Score 2383

3DMark 06 OC: 9622 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score 4421
HDR/SM3.0 Score 4162
CPU Score 2429

3DMark 11: E1714, P1048
3DMark 11 OC: E1981, P1214 (14% increase from Overclock)

PCMark Vantage:
PCMark 7: 2410
NovaBench: 601
SuperPI: 4M - 1:30
PerformanceTest - CPU Mark - 2752

Games
Crysis 2 1.9 - DX11 On, High Res Textures On, 1366x768, Very High Settings
Standard Clocks - Min 22, Ave 28, Max 37
Overclocked Min 24, Ave 34, Max 48

Minecraft 1.7 Full Screen 1366x768 Full View Distance Advanced OpenGL On
Standard Clocks - Min 68, Ave 76, Max 89
Overclock - Mine 72, Ave 84, Max 97

Bulletstorm - 1366x768 Max Settings, 2x AA, vSync On
Standard Clocks - Min 21, Ave 27, Max 29
Overclocked - Min 25, Ave 31, Max 34

Fallout New Vegas - 1366x786, 4x AA, Utra Settings, latest update
Standard Clocks - Min 32, Ave 41, Max 60
Overclocked - Mine 34, Ave 48, Max 60

Duke Nukem Forever - 1366x768, FSAA, Maximum Settings
Standard Clocks - Min 37, Ave 52, Max 71
Overclocked - Min 38, Ave 58, Max 79

 

Sweet post. Loved all the benchmarks with and without OC. Got me stoked for my r3 which is supposed to be here within a week!

 

Of interesting note on turbo boost 2.0 - I'm not sure how Intel decides when to turn Turbo Boost on or off, and by how much. I understood that if a single or dual threaded app was maxing a single core out, and the others were sitting, the cpu would increase the multiplier of that core to whatever specified, so long as the CPU stayed withing the TDP limits.

Here is what I've found while watching CPU-Z:
2.3GHz - Very minor, unexpected, short needs, lasting only for a second or two. Its occurrence is very limited but likely happens quite often. Its rare I can get CPU-Z to display 2.3GHz as the programs refresh time is a few seconds. Some single threaded apps such as SuperPI will bounce between here and 2GHz.
2.0GHz - Very frequent. Extended durations of single threaded apps, dual, and quad threaded apps, will usually sit right at 1.993Ghz even for long periods of time as can be seen in the image below.
1.4GHz - I've never seen CPU-Z report the advertised frequency of 1.4GHz outside of stating the fact that that is the CPU's advertised speed...
797Mhz - The CPU spends most of its time gently idling at this speed. Movies (non HD), music, internet, office, etc, all sit comfortable at this speed. I remember having an 800Mhz Pentium III and it couldn't even imaging performing like the i5 does at the same frequency. Goes to show how far along we've come with instruction sets, architecture, and all the other wonderful things that make modern computing.

Take a look at the temps too. The max CPU temp of 86C was taken outside (95F) while running OCCT's Power Supply stress-test, which maximizes the CPU, GPU, and memory together. The temperature was reached after an hour of 100% fully maxed resources, which is something you'll never do outside of synthetic applications. Why would I do this? I like to 'seat' my chips into their thermal paste when the system is brand new, and getting that paste as hot as the chip can safely go is the easiest way to do it. The 66F was obtained on idle with battery power while sitting on my AC Vent. Yay for air conditioning during OC Benchmarking

 

nice scores but we really need to compare it with the i7 version with the same clocks and internals to conclude if the i7 is worth it over the i5

 

Hey I'm just saying the i5 on the r3 is very, very capable. 100mhz and 1mb cache won't make much of a difference, and not worth $200 IMO. Make it 400mhz and 1mb cache more, and I'd have bought it.

 

hey thanks for the scores! I'm comparing them to my r1 so I'm thinking in upgrading my machine

 

thanks emike09, i was in somewhat of a dilemma of choosing between i5 or i7.

from your input i think i'll be happy enough with an i5.

i'm sure someone will come up with a way to boost the performance of r3 sometime in the future when r4 comes out ya know, the way some guys here have done with their r1.

 

I also got the i5 instead of the i7. I would rather have the battery life, which isn't much different anyways.

 

yeah I would be more than happy with a r3 i5, just want to ask emike can you test BFBC2 multiplayer? It's a game I want to play smooth and my r1 cant give me that ):