# same graphics card; does processor matter a lot for gaming?



## suyash24seven (May 8, 2012)

hi,
i searched this forum and while i got quite a lot of information about the models i'm confused about, didn't find a definitive answer that'll make me finalize one, hence starting this thread. kindly help me 

i wish to purchase a new laptop, and gaming is a priority for me. i would like to play all the latest popular games (like Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, etc.) without lowering the quality much. the laptop that i have (almost) selected is Asus K53SM-SX010D (i5, Nvidia GeForce GT 630M). my question is that should i go for a more expensive i7 model (with the same graphics processor), or will the one i've chose do? both have same graphics card, but one has i5 and the other has i7. price difference is about Rs.10,000. i don't want to spend the additional money but don't wanna regret buying a low performing laptop either.

so please help. i really appreciate it. thanks.


----------



## thetechfreak (May 8, 2012)

Not really. MW3 doesn't need so much of fire power. The i5 based one will suffice 
Also whats your maximum budget?


----------



## dashing.sujay (May 8, 2012)

If your sole purpose is gaming, i5 will be enough for you.

See it works like every component in a system should be _balanced_. If you pair a high end GPU with a comparatively slow GPU, then of course the GPU will be bottlenecked, so the performance will differ. Similarly, a very fast CPU coupled with a mediocre GPU is gonna do no good except raw CPU power lying useless.

Performance difference in games also depends upon its nature to utilise certain hardware, i.e, if the games is more CPU dependent or GPU dependent.

Now you should know your answer.


----------



## koolent (May 8, 2012)

Its not like, anything is more important, as the above post stated, everything should be balanced, if a component is not good enough, it will bottelneck the other, so my reccomendation goes with the i5 RiG as its not such a bad processor though, I don't think you will even ever need the full potential of your i5, its a super processor at its range. 

I am not against i7, but it is not that much for you. 

Hope you got it..


----------



## arsenalfan001 (May 9, 2012)

koolent said:


> Its not like, anything is more important, as the above post stated, everything should be balanced, if a component is not good enough, it will bottelneck the other, so my reccomendation goes with the i5 RiG as its not such a bad processor though, I don't think you will even ever need the full potential of your i5, its a super processor at its range.
> 
> I am not against i7, but it is not that much for you.
> 
> Hope you got it..



Perfect.

If gaming is only requirement, even i3 will also suffice.
i5 = i3 + turbo boost (for laptops)


----------



## koolent (May 9, 2012)

arsenalfan001 said:


> Perfect.
> 
> *If gaming is only requirement, even i3 will also suffice.
> i5 = i3 + turbo boost (for laptops)*



It depeds upon which variant of i5 are you talking about. i5 is much better than i3 but high end i3 might reach low end i5 because only GHz/frequency doesn't matter..

Well, good question it is.. Many people don't know this.


----------



## dashing.sujay (May 9, 2012)

From my experience i3 and i5 are worlds apart in performance (in laptops, as said).


----------



## suyash24seven (May 9, 2012)

thank you so much guys for the replies. no confusion anymore, i'm going with the i5 one


----------



## ico (May 9, 2012)

Core i3-23xxM, Core i5-2xxM and Core i7-26xxM. All have 2 hyper-threaded cores. 2 Cores and 4 Threads.

Only difference between them is their base frequency and turbo frequencies. Core i3-2xxxM doesn't have Turbo.

For "gaming" considering the kind of GPUs paired up with laptops (GT 540M, GT 630M, HD 6490M), Core i3-2330M is the minimum. You're better off saving money if "gaming" is the "only" priority and you're getting the GPUs I mentioned.

From a jump from i3-2350M to i5-2410M, we're talking about only ~15% difference. From a jump from i3-2350 to i5-2520M, we're talking about ~26% difference. Only in CPU performance/tasks. It is only coming from the frequency/turbo. That's not worlds apart.  They are the same die afterall - only binned to differentiate.


----------



## dashing.sujay (May 9, 2012)

ico said:


> Core i3-23xxM, Core i5-2xxM and Core i7-26xxM. All have 2 hyper-threaded cores. 2 Cores and 4 Threads.



i7-2xxx*Q*M has 4 cores.



ico said:


> For "gaming" considering the kind of GPUs paired up with laptops (GT 540M, GT 630M, HD 6490M), Core i3-2330M is the minimum.



Not this.  6630M would have suited there.


----------



## ico (May 9, 2012)

dashing.sujay said:


> i7-2xxxM has 4 cores.


Wrong. I have mentioned i7-26xxM. It has 2 Cores and 4 Threads. Only those which have QM as the suffix - i7-26xxQM and i7-27xxQM have 4 cores.



dashing.sujay said:


> Not this.  6630M would have suited there.


HD 6630M, HD 6550M etc. Basically all mid-end laptop GPUs having DDR3 memory was the point. Mentioned HD 6490M as it has GDDR5 memory and people think it is fast ignoring it has only 160 shaders.


----------



## dashing.sujay (May 9, 2012)

ico said:


> Wrong. I have mentioned i7-26xxM. It has 2 Cores and 4 Threads. Only those which have QM as the suffix - i7-26xxQM and i7-27xxQM have 4 cores.



Sorry, I missed the Q part, though there's only one variant 2640M which I have never seen.


----------



## ico (May 9, 2012)

ya, I think I have seen it in only one model Macbook Pro.


----------



## aroraanant (May 9, 2012)

Obviously it will matter a lot.


----------



## suyash24seven (May 30, 2012)

hi 
i didn't purchase the laptop then, postponed it by a month and turns out now i can spend some extra thousands on it. so kindly answer this follow-up question of mine. can somebody please suggest me a laptop around Rs.50000 range (not more than 51000) that will be better in terms of gaming than the Asus K53SM-SX010D? should i go for the i7 one, or go for a better GPU? specific model suggestions would be much appreciated.

thanks a lot


----------



## dashing.sujay (May 30, 2012)

^No, i7 won't help you much in gaming. Consider getting a better GPU which is sadly not available in your budget (or even in 55k).


----------



## Vignesh B (May 31, 2012)

^^ Completely agree with that.
Still the Asus K53SM-SX010D is probably the best option for you, and you save money!
But if you want to spend, & since only gaming is your priority, if you don't care much about portability go for a desktop   It's just my opinion.


----------



## NoasArcAngel (May 31, 2012)

there are some games which are cpu heavy like battlefield 3 .so i guess it is always better to have a strong processor.


----------



## Prongs298 (May 31, 2012)

yes there are some games which are as much cpu dependent as they are on the gfx card. but i think it has more to do with the clock speed than the no. of cores as an i3 at 2ghz will be better for gaming than a quad i7 at 1.2ghz. but some games do benefit from the extra cores. so its better to find a balance.


----------



## suyash24seven (Jun 2, 2012)

thanks a lot for the help guys!


----------



## pranavgautam67 (Jun 3, 2012)

anything more.
Man, i love You Ico, u have some great knowledge to spread.
U should make a big thread consisting all about processors starting from core 2 duo...
Best members from now  1-Ico 2- dashing.sujay


----------



## koolent (Jun 8, 2012)

Don't worry man.. He will never reply or put a word on what you said. Attitude you know..


----------



## techkens (Jun 14, 2012)

Yes even though you have high end graphic card processor matters in loading your game because your processor must support to the graphics.


----------

