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    CPU upgrade question on X220

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Benchmade 42, Apr 21, 2011.

  1. Benchmade 42

    Benchmade 42 Titanium

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    i5-2450m vs i5-2520m, is the $50 upgrade worth it? I mean besides the clock speed and boost difference and the vt-d, is there a benefit to get the 2520m in terms of snappyness or overall performance speed?

    My 2 other laptops has i5-460m and i7 2630qm and both don't have the vt-d and it is blazingly fast. Where exactly do we need the vt-d for?

    Thanks :D
     
    Benchmade 42, Apr 21, 2011
    #1
  2. erik

    erik modifier

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    the only differences between the i5-2520M and i5-2540M are the base and turbo clock speeds.   all other features are identical and both have VT-d.   it's not until you go to an i5-24xx or i3-23xx that you start losing features.

    i ordered mine with a 2520M.   synthetic benchmarks be damned. :D
     
    erik, Apr 21, 2011
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  3. LoneWolf15

    LoneWolf15 The Chairman

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    There is no i-2450M. Do you mean going from the i5-2410M to the i5-2520M, or from the i5-2520M to the i5-2540M?

    In the case of the first (2410M to 2520M) here's what you get:

    Minor boost in clockspeed
    AES-NI instructions (speeds up hardware encryption/decryption)
    Intel VT-d (VT for Directed I/O)
    Intel Trusted Execution Technology

    What this means is if you use Bitlocker or TrueCrypt for hard disk encryption, or work with a lot of password-protected files, that operation will be faster. If you work a lot with virtual machines, you'll probably see a little bit better performance. If none of that is important to you, then you don't need the upgrade.

    If you're talking about going from a 2520M to a 2540M, it's just a minor boost in clockspeed, so it's pretty insignificant. All processor features are the same; it's just Intel having a chip at every price point.
     
    LoneWolf15, Apr 21, 2011
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  4. maticomp

    maticomp Notebook Consultant

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    The chance is, if you don't know what do you need VT-d for, you do not need it at all, so don't fret :)

    VT-d is used with virtualization software like Xen or VMware — and as for now is not well supported under Windows. It's a neat technology, but only in very special cases. Won't bring any performance improvement in everyday work — neither in graphic design and office work nor gaming.

    There is another feature that is stripped in 2410m. It's AES CPU instructions that could boost your performance on ecrypted media (such as an entirely encrypted hard drive).

    Other than that, for typical usage I don't think the difference between 2410m and 2520m boils to anything else than the CPU clock.
     
    maticomp, Apr 21, 2011
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  5. vinuneuro

    vinuneuro Notebook Virtuoso

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    There is a slight difference in GPU turbo speed as well.
     
    vinuneuro, Apr 21, 2011
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  6. Benchmade 42

    Benchmade 42 Titanium

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    Yep my bad that a was a typo on the 2450, suppose to be 2410.
     
    Benchmade 42, Apr 21, 2011
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