Is the I7 6700HQ Worth it?

[Greenman]

Just wondering what sorta difference there is between this and the i5 quad for the Optimus VII. Would I notice much of a difference for gaming? The price difference is £67, so wondering if it'd be worth it.

 

[keynes]

The mobile i5 has only 2 cores, you may not notice much difference for current games but it may help for future releases as well as for any cpu intensive application you wish to run.

 

[Retron]

The mobile i5 has only 2 cores

Skylake introduces quad-core mobile i5s for the first time - note the Q in the processor model name. (6300HQ).

The benefits of the i7 over the i5 will boil down to:

* 300MHz extra stock speed (plus another 200MHz if you decide to overclock)
* Hyperthreading
* Slightly faster internal GPU (not really worth much)

The 960M will become a liability for gaming faster than the processor will, whichever you choose.

 

[Greenman]

Thanks for the replies. I won't be using any CPU intensive apps other than games. Would the i5 + 960m last about 3-4 years spec wise? In the immediate future, I'd like to play FO4 and Xcom 2 on high settings.

I'm on an Optimus II at the moment, i7 + 555m. Bought in 2011. Only lately is it really showing its age. I don't mind lowering graphic settings right down though. Same goes for future purchases further down the line.

 

[Retron]

Thanks for the replies. I won't be using any CPU intensive apps other than games. Would the i5 + 960m last about 3-4 years spec wise? In the immediate future, I'd like to play FO4 and Xcom 2 on high settings.

I'm on an Optimus II at the moment, i7 + 555m. Bought in 2011. Only lately is it really showing its age. I don't mind lowering graphic settings right down though. Same goes for future purchases further down the line.

Assuming the glacial pace of Intel CPU development continues (as looks likely until 2017 at least on Intel's side), in 4 years time the quad-core i5 would still be half-decent. I would suggest that if you can afford it the i7 option will last just that bit longer (not least due to the extra speed and hyperthreading).

The 960M is already somewhat outdated as it's just a rebrand of the 860M with the clocks bumped up a bit... first generation Maxwell rather than the second generation Maxwell as found in the 970M and 980M. It's not bad, but you'll probably be using low settings on new games in 2019!

As for how quickly the 960M fades away, that depends on how good Pascal is next year (along with AMD's equivalent) - and nobody outside of Nvidia knows the answer to that yet!

 

[Greenman]

Assuming the glacial pace of Intel CPU development continues (as looks likely until 2017 at least on Intel's side), in 4 years time the quad-core i5 would still be half-decent. I would suggest that if you can afford it the i7 option will last just that bit longer (not least due to the extra speed and hyperthreading).

The 960M is already somewhat outdated as it's just a rebrand of the 860M with the clocks bumped up a bit... first generation Maxwell rather than the second generation Maxwell as found in the 970M and 980M. It's not bad, but you'll probably be using low settings on new games in 2019!

As for how quickly the 960M fades away, that depends on how good Pascal is next year (along with AMD's equivalent) - and nobody outside of Nvidia knows the answer to that yet!

I think low settings in 2019 would be perfectly acceptable ^^

They've released the minimum and recommended specs for Fallout 4 (In "desktop" form). Do you happen to know how a 960m would handle it?
Cheers.

 

[Retron]

I think low settings in 2019 would be perfectly acceptable ^^

They've released the minimum and recommended specs for Fallout 4 (In "desktop" form). Do you happen to know how a 960m would handle it?

Using 3DMark (GPU score):

Min spec: 550Ti: 2500
Rec spec: 780: 13370

555M: 1350
960M: 5290
970M: 10220
980M: 12630

There's a massive gap between the 960M and the higher models. The 960M uses a much smaller chip than the 970M and 980M (which are cut-down desktop 980s). The 960M is a cut-down desktop 750 Ti.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units
http://www.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu?_ga=1.118058505.1407188967.1444718630

 

[Greenman]

Using 3DMark (GPU score):

Min spec: 550Ti: 2500
Rec spec: 780: 13370

555M: 1350
960M: 5290
970M: 10220
980M: 12630

There's a massive gap between the 960M and the higher models. The 960M uses a much smaller chip than the 970M and 980M (which are cut-down desktop 980s). The 960M is a cut-down desktop 750 Ti.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units
http://www.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu?_ga=1.118058505.1407188967.1444718630

Thanks for the scores.
The performance gap is pretty big, but so is the price tag. I think it'll be a little bit out of my price range. (The 970m). The absolute maximum I could probably go is £900. The Proteus seems to be cheapest 970m model, and once you add the smallest SSD and a 1TB HDD it's already pretty close to 1k.
On the flip side, it's almost 5 times better than what I have currently.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks for the scores.
The performance gap is pretty big, but so is the price tag. I think it'll be a little bit out of my price range. (The 970m). The absolute maximum I could probably go is £900. The Proteus seems to be cheapest 970m model, and once you add the smallest SSD and a 1TB HDD it's already pretty close to 1k.
On the flip side, it's almost 5 times better than what I have currently.

Why don't you order it without the secondary HDD and add it yourself later on, very easy yourself and keeps the initial cost down.

 

[Retron]

Why don't you order it without the secondary HDD and add it yourself later on, very easy yourself and keeps the initial cost down.

You can also save money with Windows - order it without (and reuse your license key from your old machine, then wipe Windows from it to be legal) or buy a cheap OEM copy of Windows 7 from elsewhere and use the free upgrade to Windows 10 promotion to get Windows 10 for less.

You used to be able to pay nothing at all by installing the Windows Insider builds of Windows (I did just that and ended up with the RTM copy completely free - on 2 PCS laptops!), but I'm not sure whether that's still an option.

FWIW, my first PCS laptop was a Vortex II with an i7-2720QM and a 560M GPU. The i7 would still be pretty decent today, but the GPU is absolutely terrible by modern standards. That was ordered in July 2011. It was a lovely laptop, but for the last couple of years of its life I kept wishing I'd spent more on the GPU!

 

[SpyderTracks]

You can also save money with Windows - order it without (and reuse your license key from your old machine, then wipe Windows from it to be legal) or buy a cheap OEM copy of Windows 7 from elsewhere and use the free upgrade to Windows 10 promotion to get Windows 10 for less.

You used to be able to pay nothing at all by installing the Windows Insider builds of Windows (I did just that and ended up with the RTM copy completely free - on 2 PCS laptops!), but I'm not sure whether that's still an option.

FWIW, my first PCS laptop was a Vortex II with an i7-2720QM and a 560M GPU. The i7 would still be pretty decent today, but the GPU is absolutely terrible by modern standards. That was ordered in July 2011. It was a lovely laptop, but for the last couple of years of its life I kept wishing I'd spent more on the GPU!

That's the key, I've got an old 2010 Mac book pro with a first gen i7 and it still performs well by modern standards. The i7 chips are workhorses and last for years, the first bottleneck will always be the gpu so get the very best you can afford.

 

[Greenman]

Some very good advice here.
I'll take a look at the Proteus, which is the cheapest 970m laptop atm. Do you think it's likely there'll be a new model of this soon? Currently it has 4th gen Intel processors, and reviews mention the pretty basic screen quality.
Other than that, it's around £850 with one HDD and no OS.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Some very good advice here.
I'll take a look at the Proteus, which is the cheapest 970m laptop atm. Do you think it's likely there'll be a new model of this soon? Currently it has 4th gen Intel processors, and reviews mention the pretty basic screen quality.
Other than that, it's around £850 with one HDD and no OS.

It's a value chassis. Can't comment on if they'll update it, but they have updated most other chassis to skylake so it's entirely possible. May be worth asking on the webchat or phone for a better answer.

It's excellent value and there are some reviews on the forum which sing its praises despite the lower quality.

Personally, I'd say if your budget is restricted and you can't push to another chassis with a 970m, then go for the Proteus. The difference between the 970m and 960m is significant, you almost get double the benchmark scores for the 970m so it really is well worth aiming for.

Also worth mentioning that a lot of users mention that recalibrating the screen colour balance greatly improves the overall quality.

Proteus reviews below:

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...15-Proteus-II-laptop&highlight=proteus+review

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...36-Proteus-II-Review&highlight=proteus+review

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...26-Proteus-II-review&highlight=proteus+review

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...lien-from-outerspace&highlight=proteus+review

 

[Greenman]

Thanks for all the advice.

I'll probably hold off for a bit, and see if I can stretch the budget to a Defiance 15" with a 970m.

Cheers.

 

[Greenman]

Well the Proteus has gone so the only option really is the defiance. I'll be getting one soon so instead of making a new thread, some questions here instead.

Someone mentioned re-using my windows to save costs, but it's an OEM version (I thought at £79 it'd have been a full retail copy but meh) so I don't think they're transferable.
I play online games a bit, and was wondering if the Gigabit LAN & Killer is worth it, quite a bit extra.

 

[keynes]

OEM versions are non transferable and if I were you I would go with the killer wireless card. I have never experienced a problem with it.

 

[Greenman]

OEM versions are non transferable and if I were you I would go with the killer wireless card. I have never experienced a problem with it.

Thanks.
How much of a boost is the killer card though? And is it an easy upgrade down the road?
Stretching budget already, especially now I know I'll need to get another OEM copy of windows ^^