i7 2630 or i7 2720?

Hi

I was wondering whether I should choose an i7 2630 or spend $160 to upgrade to an i7 2720.

I am mainly going to use my computer (80% of the time) for studying and programming (I'm an IS major). Right now, I have like 2-3 windows open in excel, VS 2010 running, and firefox. My laptop "freezes" for 2-3 seconds when I switch windows :S

It might now seem like much, but that time adds up and the time spent opening task manager (only to have the damn program go back to being normal) etc. adds up to extra time where I could have been done with my work.

The other 20% of the time is spent messing around in stuff like photoshop or blender, raiding in world of warcraft, or watching movies with my room mate.

I bought my current laptop for $1000 total (including 3 yrs warranty) from Dell. Its got an intel dual core T6500, 4gb ddr2 memory, 250gb hard drive, and 256mb ati radeon 4650. I called dell some time ago because my computer was slow and overheating (no there were no viruses that caused it to be slow or dirty fans that caused overheating). My CPU score is a 3.9 (i know wei means crap but still) but still this doesn't mean that I should be lagging while running excel. I have no idea why I am lagging that much.

Anyway, the new computer I'm looking at is a Sager 8130 with an i7 2720, 500gb 7200 rpm hard drive, 8gb dual channel ddr3 memory @ 1333 mhz, a gtx 460 (I'm going to order in June, so I will be able to get a 560m), and a full HD screen for $1400. Am I making the right decision in upgrading to the 2720 for 160 dollars more?

Thanks

 

I don't think you need 2720, 2630 is all you need buy a ssd instead if you want faster assess time.

 

Your existing laptop shouldn't lag at all, it's plenty fast.
Get an SSD and reinstall windows if you ask me.

 

I agree buy an ssd.

Cheers
3Fees

 

SSD option is equally expensive, and the cost is almost as much ($140). I have an SSD (120gb) on my home desktop (it was like 30% off coupon I had lols) which has the OS installed on it, and can't really tell any difference in performance besides the fact that windows loads up really fast and zones load maybe a second or less faster than normal after I put wow on the drive (i have a 2x 500gb 7200 rpm drives in raid 0). Also, maybe im not seeing the diff cuz my home desktop is pretty ballin with i5 2500k @ 4.5 ghz, 8gb ram, and a gtx 570 lols. I wish it was not as bulky tho >.<

Eh I'm still not sure about this new laptop anyway -going to wait another month or so.

As for my current laptop, its quite apparent that there is something wrong with my CPU (its not supposed to be this slow). One of the technicians I talked to at school (my laptop can't be serviced there though) said its an issue with my CPU where it doesn't change processor speed as it starts requiring more processing power. Disabling speed step seems to help because the cpu always runs @ 2.1 ghz but its still laggy when I have more than 6 windows open (usually excel, a compiler, and firefox windows with each having 4-5 tabs). My friend has a similar processor (T-xxxx.. I don't remember the name but its a tad faster than mine) and he never experiences the same issues as me. My memory is working fine, my GPU is fine, and my hard drive has no issues.

edit: desktop hard drive lol

 

Difference in SSD against HDD is that even if your Windows will become so pathological after 2 years you will still not see any stuttering with SSD because all lags will be covered by super speed of SSD. I believe.
Reinstall Windows and check if your HDD is OK.

About CPU - dodn't know. I see that better one supports new AES and it is something important and of course turboboost is better but is it worth i don't know. I am almost sure that you will not see any difference between them

 

I can say to save your money on the i7-2720QM unless you need AES encryption acceleration and Virtual machine VT-d to your directed I/O. For gaming and general purpose computing you won't notice much difference between the i7-2630QM and the i7-2720QM. At load the i7-2630QM is seeing sustained performance at about 2.2GHz, where the 2720QM is about 2.4-2.5GHz

As far as your pauses and such, a fresh Windows install couldn't hurt.

 

Don`t forget that the IGP is 200 MHz faster with 2720QM

 

I just reinstalled windows (for probably the 5th time since the problem started) a week ago. I updated everything and the only things I have on the hard drive atm are office, netbeans and other java stuff, and league of legends

Its frustrating because it seems that whatever I do, the lag is unbearable.

I'd deal with it, but when I got this machine two years ago I was told that it'd be powerful (not a gaming powerhouse, since that's not what I wanted this for anyway) and last me like 4 years. I know its like 2-3 seconds lag, but even my old intel centrino laptop from 2004 did not exhibit this sort of nuisance.. and that had a 1.5 ghz processor, 60gb hard drive, and 512 mb ram lol.

 

Really 512MB = LOL. Maybe HDD then. What does HDTune says?

 

that is indeed wierd. you shouldnt be experiencing this especially if your 7 year old centrino can handle your workload. have you noticed deteriorating overall disk performance? if so it could be a sign of a failing hdd too.
anyways with regards to your question, just stick to the 2630 as its more power than you probably need already.

 

In my experience, 99% of "my PC is running slow" issues are due to software, not hardware.
Time to reinstall your OS, especially if it's XP.

 

As I said before I've done fresh installs 5 times already. I don't have viruses or any of that crap because I run an anti virus test every 2 days (happens at night when I go to bed, pc shuts off when test is over) and I defrag my hard drive every week. I run CCleaner every night and I know for a fact that I have done nothing on my end that would compromise performance. Everything is neat

Also, Dell service is complete and utter . I spent 3 hours each day for 4 days trying to get answers... and the last straw was when I was transferred to another department where the guy asked "what is it?" then there was a pause when I explained my situation... after which he hung up...

Some quotes from my experience:

"CPUs don't fail. Ever."
"If your system is over heating, you should run a memory check."
Me: "My processor is advertised as 2.1ghz."
Response: "Fans don't spin that fast."

LMFAO

 

Did you try downloading and running cpuinfo and see if your processor is ramping up with load?

 

That must be a problem unless you did quick defrag without moving all files in a straight order. You could easily kill your hard drive. I do defradmentation once in 2 or 4 weeks and it is quick one. Besides I do not do this on any drive except C:

And yeah download cpu-z and check info under stress

 

If you've already reinstalled the OS 5x over the past week, I wouldn't put it past the software you are using as being the primary cause of this problem... or hardware.
The cpu issues as mentioned you could check into along with diagnosing your HDD.

I virtually never defrag my HDD (except for the boot sector if I've done a major change to the system).
Frequent defrags could easily lead into a problematic hdd behavior... such as degrading performance until it ends up dead.

 

No I haven't re installed win 7 5 times this week.. I've reinstalled 5 times since the problem arose a few months ago. My summer vacation started 2 weeks ago, so I tried a fresh reinstall.

I used cpuz to check under load (I put sc2 on my laptop to test.. is that enough load? lol) and the cpu is still running @ 900 mhz @ 100% load. If I go and disable speed step in bios, it stays at 2.1 ghz all the time but gets really hot (and I'm sure doing this is bad for the processor). Eh I hardly use my laptop now, unless I have to knock off homework or something.

My hard drive gets defragged automatically on weekends lol but i'll stop doing that so often then haha.

 

give the op a break guys. the point is moot, he is getting a new laptop.
to the ot, just get the 2630. im sure you will be happy with the sager.

 

try to use Prime 95 for couple minutes with enabled speed step and look if processor will start work at 2.1 Ghz.

 

In regards to the choice between 2630qm and 2720qm...
Well, since I read you are using quite a bit of cpu intensive programs, the 2720qm would provide you with a 15% difference at best under turbo-boost when all cores are used.

A $160 in this situation seems a bit much for such a minor performance increase (even in cpu intense tasks).
If it was a 2820qm to upgrade from 2630qm for the same price, then maybe, but in this situation, the 2630qm will be just fine.