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tl;dr = the 4200U and 4200M are basically the same thing, but the 4200U has 15 watts to work with for CPU and graphics, while the 4200M has 37w.
The "U" CPU's are basically versions of the mobile CPU's that are clocked (and binned a bit) to work with very weak cooling, they cost more (for the chip alone, but overall system cost is probably similar) and perform a lot worse. It'd probably be fine with those uses that you listed either way, but the performance difference is substantial enough for me to mention it anyway at 15.6" size (because options with both -should- be available)
Hey guys I want to upgrade parts of my computer in order to run Far Cry 4. I mostly play games that aren't too demanding in CPU power (CSGo, Dota 2 etc) But I recently got Far Cry 4 and i can only run it on Medium. Even then my computer sounds like it's running very hard and is quite slow with load times.
My current specs are: DDR3 1.33mhz 4gb ram P55-UD3 Gigabyte motherboard (very old mobo from 5 years ago) Radeon 6950 Intel i5 750 (pretty old cpu too) 600W Coolermaster power supply
Now I don't really want to replace the mobo and cpu as that's too much work for me. Will my old mobo and CPU be able to handle the new parts I want to put in? I'd preferably put in: DDR3 1.8mhz 8gb ram Radeon r9 270X OR Geforce GTX760
Would my old PC be able to handle these new parts? And would they improve performance in Far Cry 4? I'm not aiming for everything ultra, just everything on High to Very High with no screen tearing and my computer not sound like it's about to die would suffice
edit: just checked CPU specs, apparently it's so old it can't handle above 1.33mhz RAM lol. So i guess ill just buy another 4gb stick and chuck it in
On January 05 2015 11:27 fuzzy_panda wrote: Hey guys I want to upgrade parts of my computer in order to run Far Cry 4. I mostly play games that aren't too demanding in CPU power (CSGo, Dota 2 etc) But I recently got Far Cry 4 and i can only run it on Medium. Even then my computer sounds like it's running very hard and is quite slow with load times.
My current specs are: DDR3 1.33mhz 4gb ram P55-UD3 Gigabyte motherboard (very old mobo from 5 years ago) Radeon 6950 Intel i5 750 (pretty old cpu too) 600W Coolermaster power supply
Now I don't really want to replace the mobo and cpu as that's too much work for me. Will my old mobo and CPU be able to handle the new parts I want to put in? I'd preferably put in: DDR3 1.8mhz 8gb ram Radeon r9 270X OR Geforce GTX760
Would my old PC be able to handle these new parts? And would they improve performance in Far Cry 4? I'm not aiming for everything ultra, just everything on High to Very High with no screen tearing and my computer not sound like it's about to die would suffice
edit: just checked CPU specs, apparently it's so old it can't handle above 1.33mhz RAM lol. So i guess ill just buy another 4gb stick and chuck it in
Even on the newest CPU's, nothing is officially specced for high speed RAM. Haswell memory controller spec is 1600mhz, yet people run 2800mhz 24/7 on them. The memory controllers for those CPU's are not nearly as good, but something like 1600 or 1866 would work, maybe with some adjustments, it's just that 1333 is the official spec and more is technically overclocking the memory controller, even if the RAM supports it.
Is your current RAM 1x4GB, or 2x2GB? If you already have two sticks and you have four slots on the motherboard, you should run 4x2GB, and not 2x2GB + 1x4GB. Going from 4GB of RAM to 8GB is a pretty good upgrade these days, but it wouldn't necessarily change FPS (unless you're running out of RAM.. which far cry 4 could probably do, i imagine)
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Going from a 6950 to a 760/270x isn't that big of an upgrade, just because you're going from high end of one generation to mid range of the next generation. See this for example:
Because of that, it might be a better idea to aim higher and see if you could get a 280, or maybe even a 290/970*.
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For load times etc and general system responsiveness you can get an SSD, they are very cheap these days. Something like a Crucial MX100 128GB for example. Your motherboard does not support Sata 6Gbit/s so the maximum sequential read speed would be cut in half, but the main reason for getting an SSD is for the performance when reading lots of small files, which wouldn't be hugely affected by the loss of bandwidth using old sata revision. Instead of being ~5x faster than HDD in some ways and ~100x faster in other ways, it would be ~2.5x faster in some ways (without having to defragment to maintain performance) and still ~100x faster for reading lots of random tiny files.
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If you're happy with the FPS that you're getting at low-med settings but you want to turn up graphics, then a GPU upgrade should be fine for you. Your CPU is pretty old and at stock settings, but usually CPU is responsible for giving you the capability to run the game at high FPS, while GPU is required to turn up graphically demanding settings and keep FPS high
*There is a GPU called the r9 285, but for confusing reasons it can be less appealing than the 280. If it's cheaper, it'd be a nice buy, but don't look at them and say "the 285 is halfway between the 280 and the 290" because 280 vs 290 is a very different class of GPU, while 285 is more of an alternative to the 280 which is better in some ways, but worse in others.
I'm guessing that you're probably maxing out your RAM (you can check that easily though, view task manager while playing far cry 4) or coming very close to it, and GPU is pinned at 100% load and being noisy for you (you can see that in the sensors tab of an application called gpu-z - it will show you temperatures, fan speeds etc)
I mean, with more power comes more weight. 4.6 pounds is pretty heavy no?
If it's already 15.6", it shouldn't be very expensive weight-wise to allow for it. The main use of the -U processors is for ultrabooks that can weigh even under 3 pounds. Considering the performance gap, i think it was worth the mention at least
it probably is at that price range the --u is more than enough for casual use and almost all mid/lower tier consumer laptops use either 4200u or 4210u nowadays
For the uses outlined I'd think the lower power U is preferred, if anything. (of course, in practice for actual systems this probably implies gimped design elsewhere) Seems okayish.
The sadder thing is probably what's a terrible laptop TN panel, which have nothing on 100 USD TN desktop monitors.
It's relatively difficult to find reviews on the cheaper multimedia laptops, unfortunately.
For the uses outlined I'd think the lower power U is preferred, if anything
Haswell is so good at idling though, it's not really a big deal to have load clocks at higher voltages. The biggest difference by far though between -U and -M's is waaaay higher integrated graphics performance under cpu+gpu load for the -M's (but higher raw cpu performance too)
Hey everyone, I'm looking to build an HTPC for my parents. I just took a quick look at NUC, and I couldn't find one that seemed good for streaming and was cheap enough to fit budget, and the lack of an optical drive would be annoying. My current plan is to salvage a DVD drive and low profile Radeon HD 5450 from their current HTPC, and then make this build:
MSI micro ATX mobo: 47.99 link AMD 6400K APU: 62.99 link GSKILL memory - 4 GB: 36.54 link WD blue - 1 TB: 54.99 link HTPC case & PSU: 59.99 link Win 8: 70
For a grand total of about $340 after shipping
What is your budget? about $350
What is your monitor's native resolution? It's for a 720p TV, but a lot of the streaming services they use default to 1080p.
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? None
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? HTPC, streaming from internet and using a dvd drive, recording over the air TV. Worst case scenario for performance would be streaming at 1080p while recording two HD shows.
Do you intend to overclock? no
Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? no
Do you need an operating system? yes, I'm going to get them Win 8 with my student discount
Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? No
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. No
What country will you be buying your parts in? America
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. Newegg
I'm guessing this is not necessarily at comparable RPM's, but good video for hearing the type of noise (instead of just a flat decibel measurement)
That's from the article I linked you when I asked you about this. =P
Main reason I was looking for more was because I really dislike how most of these things are done. All I know for the CB test is "under load" but then everything else is left on auto. Clocks are different across the board and there seems to be no common temperature goal which means comparing fanspeed % to noise is also awkward. For example the more soothing noise the MSI has wouldn't matter if the G1 could hit the same temperature limit with less noise overall.
...in the end I caved and picked the more chill MSI even at max speed. Also you calling it "too quiet" some pages ago was a giveaway. Should arrive tomorrow or the day after, OCing it is basically turning up power to the max in afterburner and figuring out where it's stable right?
EPT
