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Which CPU is better for SC2?

Forum Index > Tech Support
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1 2 3 4 Next All
Cryptics
Profile Joined August 2010
42 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-23 14:25:02
August 23 2010 14:22 GMT
#1
Intel® Core™ i7 720QM 1.60GHz 6MB 45W

or

Intel® Core™2 Duo P8700 / 2.53 GHz

If you want to compare the 2 different laptops they are
G72GX-RBBX05 and G73JH-RBBX05

My main concern is the speed of the i7. will it be able to handle SC2 even though it has 1.60GHz?
Dugrok
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada377 Posts
August 23 2010 14:30 GMT
#2
It's still an i7... if money is not a factor, i7 would be the better choice by a long shot.
disco
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Netherlands1667 Posts
August 23 2010 14:34 GMT
#3
Doesn't the i7 have like a turbo frequency of 2.8 Ghz?
this game is a fucking jokie
Cryptics
Profile Joined August 2010
42 Posts
August 23 2010 14:38 GMT
#4
On August 23 2010 23:34 disco wrote:
Doesn't the i7 have like a turbo frequency of 2.8 Ghz?


yes but i want to know if its still fine to run it without overclocking
Jiiks
Profile Joined January 2009
Finland487 Posts
August 23 2010 14:42 GMT
#5
i7 it has 4 cores and turbo core is not the same as oc'ing. It will run just fine.
NukeTheBunnys
Profile Joined July 2010
United States1004 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-23 14:43:15
August 23 2010 14:42 GMT
#6
I don't know a lot about those processors in particular so I cant say much about them, but in general its a bad idea to overclock laptop processors. Heat management is already an issue, pushing your luck with over clocking is asking for a big expensive paper weight

Also SC2 only uses 2 cores, so you won't see much performance boost by adding more cores on
When you play the game of drones you win or you die.
Jiiks
Profile Joined January 2009
Finland487 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-23 15:16:35
August 23 2010 14:47 GMT
#7
On August 23 2010 23:42 NukeTheBunnys wrote:
I don't know a lot about those processors in particular so I cant say much about them, but in general its a bad idea to overclock laptop processors. Heat management is already an issue, pushing your luck with over clocking is asking for a big expensive paper weight

Also SC2 only uses 2 cores, so you won't see much performance boost by adding more cores on


Turbo core is not the same as overclocking he'll get 1core2thread 2.8ghz performance with that i7. No heating up really since it's 45wtdp

Who told you sc2 only uses 2 cores? My version uses all my 6 cores evenly.
Cryptics
Profile Joined August 2010
42 Posts
August 23 2010 14:50 GMT
#8
so activating the turbo core will have no effects on the laptop's heat or any other functions?
Corvi
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Germany1406 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-23 14:58:19
August 23 2010 14:54 GMT
#9
the e8700 is one of the best cpus you can get for sc2, as it does not get better with quad core. that i7 might be ok because of the relatively big cache, but no way for ultra details and a lot worse than the e8700.

source: http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,766089/Technik-Test-Starcraft-2-mit-14-CPUs-Intel-in-Front-vier-Kerne-nutzlos-einige-Ueberraschungen/Strategiespiel/Test/

its in german, but you can see in the benchmark that the e8400 (slightly worse than e8700) comes right behind the ultra expensive high end cpus.
jimminy_kriket
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Canada5509 Posts
August 23 2010 15:03 GMT
#10
On August 23 2010 23:47 Jiiks wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 23 2010 23:42 NukeTheBunnys wrote:
I don't know a lot about those processors in particular so I cant say much about them, but in general its a bad idea to overclock laptop processors. Heat management is already an issue, pushing your luck with over clocking is asking for a big expensive paper weight

Also SC2 only uses 2 cores, so you won't see much performance boost by adding more cores on


Turbo core is not the same as overclocking he'll get 1core1thread 2.8ghz performance with that 17. No heating up really since it's 45wtdp

Who told you sc2 only uses 2 cores? My version uses all my 6 cores evenly.

I thought it was common knowledge that SC2 uses only 2 cores? Or at least that's what I've seen a couple different people say. Curious as to why sc2 uses all 6 cores evenly if this is the case though.
life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
gerundium
Profile Joined June 2010
Netherlands786 Posts
August 23 2010 15:10 GMT
#11
Get the i7 if money is not an issue imo. It says 1.6 ghz but it has some sort of boost thing going on that can get it up to 2,x ghz i believe (+ it's a quad core.)

i Have an HP Elitebook 8540w with the i7 720QM, FX 880m GPU (1GB dedicated RAM.), and 4 Gb DDR3 memory (soon to be 8Gb though because i get in the situation where the processor runs at 30-40% of max and my memory runs out.)
It runs the game Fine on High settings but starts to drop FPS on ultra at high food counts (this is 1v1 btw and when i still played zerg).
Jiiks
Profile Joined January 2009
Finland487 Posts
August 23 2010 15:16 GMT
#12
On August 24 2010 00:03 jimminy_kriket wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 23 2010 23:47 Jiiks wrote:
On August 23 2010 23:42 NukeTheBunnys wrote:
I don't know a lot about those processors in particular so I cant say much about them, but in general its a bad idea to overclock laptop processors. Heat management is already an issue, pushing your luck with over clocking is asking for a big expensive paper weight

Also SC2 only uses 2 cores, so you won't see much performance boost by adding more cores on


Turbo core is not the same as overclocking he'll get 1core1thread 2.8ghz performance with that 17. No heating up really since it's 45wtdp

Who told you sc2 only uses 2 cores? My version uses all my 6 cores evenly.

I thought it was common knowledge that SC2 uses only 2 cores? Or at least that's what I've seen a couple different people say. Curious as to why sc2 uses all 6 cores evenly if this is the case though.


Well for me atleast my cpu usage before starting sc2 is around 8% on core #2 others are 0-2% when i start sc2 core #0 is 25% while others are around 15%

This is with no other software running.



xmShake
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
United States1100 Posts
August 23 2010 15:43 GMT
#13
Take the cheaper of the two, unless you use the computer for heavy encoding or some similar activity which takes a lot of cpu power, then you should go for the i7.

New people tend to just look at how many cores and the speed, but there's more to a processor then GHz. You have to factor things in like processor architecture, cache, etc. In this case it doesn't really matter so just get the cheaper one.
Jiiks
Profile Joined January 2009
Finland487 Posts
August 23 2010 16:01 GMT
#14
On August 24 2010 00:43 xmShake wrote:
Take the cheaper of the two, unless you use the computer for heavy encoding or some similar activity which takes a lot of cpu power, then you should go for the i7.

New people tend to just look at how many cores and the speed, but there's more to a processor then GHz. You have to factor things in like processor architecture, cache, etc. In this case it doesn't really matter so just get the cheaper one.


Well he's buying a i7 laptop so i don't think money is an issue?
i7 has double the cache, almost double transistors, 6 more threads, higher clock speed for 2 threads and most likely a lot better chipset. In this case the i7 is superior to that dual core in any application.
FragKrag
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
United States11552 Posts
August 23 2010 16:34 GMT
#15
When the i7 recognizes it is handling a dual core load, it shuts off two cores and automatically increases the speed of the two other cores to 2.8GHz. This, combined with the fact that i7 already have a instructions/clock advantage makes it the logical choice.
*TL CJ Entusman #40* "like scissors does anything to paper except MAKE IT MORE NUMEROUS" -paper
Corvi
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Germany1406 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-23 16:51:25
August 23 2010 16:43 GMT
#16
On August 24 2010 01:34 FragKrag wrote:
When the i7 recognizes it is handling a dual core load, it shuts off two cores and automatically increases the speed of the two other cores to 2.8GHz. This, combined with the fact that i7 already have a instructions/clock advantage makes it the logical choice.


source?

i cant speak for the i7 mobile, but for the desktop i7 this is not true, at least not that extreme.

edit:
well, googlet it up myself and this is partly true. 1 core can be overclocked to 2,8. two cores to 2,4 ghz. this should do just fine with sc2 with a mediocre (or better) graphics card, still a bit worse than the e8700 though. however, when you have the money and also regarding you probably want to do more than just sc2 with that thing, you should go with the i7.
Klapdout
Profile Joined August 2007
United States282 Posts
August 23 2010 17:01 GMT
#17
On August 23 2010 23:47 Jiiks wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 23 2010 23:42 NukeTheBunnys wrote:
I don't know a lot about those processors in particular so I cant say much about them, but in general its a bad idea to overclock laptop processors. Heat management is already an issue, pushing your luck with over clocking is asking for a big expensive paper weight

Also SC2 only uses 2 cores, so you won't see much performance boost by adding more cores on


Turbo core is not the same as overclocking he'll get 1core2thread 2.8ghz performance with that i7. No heating up really since it's 45wtdp

Who told you sc2 only uses 2 cores? My version uses all my 6 cores evenly.


I'm assuming you are using an AMD since intel hexacores are very expensive. AMD's turbo core works by increasing clock speed on one to three cores if the remaining cores are at/near idle. It then decreases the clock speed on the remaining cores to the Cool 'n' Quiet minimum of 800 MHz.

Basically this means SC2 only uses two cores, and the remaining 4 cores are running so slow that even a slight load shows quite a bit of utilization in task manager.

I could be wrong and your game is using all 6 cores, but that would be pretty amazing since everyone else seems to be using 2 (slightly uses the third)
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/08/18/how-many-cpu-cores-does-starcraft-2-use/2

Klapdout
Profile Joined August 2007
United States282 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-23 17:04:30
August 23 2010 17:03 GMT
#18
EDIT: I need to stop hitting quote instead of edit -.-


For the OP, the i7 would be the better choice no doubt.
skindzer
Profile Blog Joined May 2005
Chile5114 Posts
August 23 2010 17:04 GMT
#19
No game will take advantage of the i7. The 2nd option.
Its not only the rain that brings the thunder
Jiiks
Profile Joined January 2009
Finland487 Posts
August 23 2010 17:29 GMT
#20
On August 24 2010 02:01 Klapdout wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 23 2010 23:47 Jiiks wrote:
On August 23 2010 23:42 NukeTheBunnys wrote:
I don't know a lot about those processors in particular so I cant say much about them, but in general its a bad idea to overclock laptop processors. Heat management is already an issue, pushing your luck with over clocking is asking for a big expensive paper weight

Also SC2 only uses 2 cores, so you won't see much performance boost by adding more cores on


Turbo core is not the same as overclocking he'll get 1core2thread 2.8ghz performance with that i7. No heating up really since it's 45wtdp

Who told you sc2 only uses 2 cores? My version uses all my 6 cores evenly.


I'm assuming you are using an AMD since intel hexacores are very expensive. AMD's turbo core works by increasing clock speed on one to three cores if the remaining cores are at/near idle. It then decreases the clock speed on the remaining cores to the Cool 'n' Quiet minimum of 800 MHz.

Basically this means SC2 only uses two cores, and the remaining 4 cores are running so slow that even a slight load shows quite a bit of utilization in task manager.

I could be wrong and your game is using all 6 cores, but that would be pretty amazing since everyone else seems to be using 2 (slightly uses the third)
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/08/18/how-many-cpu-cores-does-starcraft-2-use/2



I have turbo core disabled and it is using all cores.

On August 24 2010 02:04 skindzer wrote:
No game will take advantage of the i7. The 2nd option.


Explain how it doesn't take advantage and how the 2nd option is better?

If the i7 can run 2 threads @ 2.8 and 4 threads @ 2.4 while the P8700 runs 2 threads @ 2.53.
Ofcourse 2 physical cores is better than 2 threads.

You could probably oc that P8700 to 2.8ghz with fsb and luck, since it's 25w it wouldn't heat too bad.


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