Ideapad Y500 SLI v single graphics card performance

Good day all.

First of all I apologise in advance in case this matter has been explored earlier. I'm a novitiate when it comes to purchasing computers and their technical terms so I might get some wrong.

I'm interested in purchasing an Ideapad Y500 for my son's birthday, who has intimated to me and my wife about getting one months prior.

AFAIK, SLI links two GeForce GT650M cards together, by using the Ultrabay configuration right? so technically they aren't dual graphics cards, as my son says it, but a two-in-one, so to speak.

What is the difference in performance benchmarks between having an SLI and having a single GT 650M? The price is rather steep I believe, to have an SLI configuration. Can I then buy the Y500 first, then purchase the additional GT650M later? How do I get the SLI to work then?

Thank you all for your assistance in this matter.

 

Yes you can buy the y500 first and later on buy the second 650m and put it into the ultrabay slot.

Performance increase is great. You can reach performance levels of the gtx 670mx, which is in the top five of single mobile graphics cards. A laptop with a 670mx will be much more expensive than the y500 with the second gpu. So price to performance is very good on this laptop.

 

Or, a 1080p model with a SLI configuration built in. Costs $1050 on Newegg, cheaper than what you'd get directly from Lenovo currently.

Edit: PS: Newegg taxes a very low number of states, might result in additional cost savings. Believe its TN, CA and NJ.

 

Suggest to your son the possibility of getting a MSI GE60. A single 7970m will destroy a GT650m SLI any day of the week. Budgets are pretty similar.

 

Sounds good too if CPU power isn't that important.

 

no GE60 having nvidia GT650M card
i think you are saying about this model MSI Global – Notebook - GX60

its GX60

 

And a gx60 got a crappy Amd cpu. What a waste of a system.

 

That 'crappy' AMD CPU provides excellent battery life and very good performance for gaming, even though 3dmark scores would claim otherwise. Benchmarks on the net don't show a significant gaming performance between that and intel cpu's.

 

From the reviews i read that amd cpu holds back the system from its full potential. Also doing anything cpu intensive is going to take allot longer then a I7. Even an I3 beats it. People do more then just game on there computers.

 

I tried out a GX60. Seriously, the APU bottlenecks the 7970M badly. That's what you get when you pair a crappy CPU with a beast GPU. And it just felt a bit slow overall.

 

Agreed I've looked at different gaming benchmarks using the APU processor vs an Intel and the APU even falls behind the i3 in certain games even though it is supposed to be stronger. It's because there was some kind of optimization issue too apparently and so even a powerful GPU will be bottlenecked.