Can't decide...AMD or Intel?

[GeekMom]

I'm buying hubby a new laptop, looking at HP so I can choose features. For the processor I'm confused between the AMD quad core A8 or the Intel i7. He mostly uses it to watch movies, web surf, and play games like Halo, Assasins Creed, Fear, stuff like htat. Also, as far as the HDD, is the 7200rpm really better to get than the 5400rpm? I ask that only because I can buy the HP dv6-6c40us for $729 or I can get pretty much the same thing customized, with the 7200rpm HDD for $933.

Thanks!!

[ShyguyXPC]

for gaming the 7200RPM is preferred for faster loading of game area's and environments or between game levels.

What is the Graphics chip on the Intel i7 one? (besides the Intel HD graphics, or is that all it has?)

Otherwise, the AMD one has a decent budget range Graphics chip built into the CPU, that should play those games easily enough, maybe not at max settings, but should play them.

[GeekMom]

for gaming the 7200RPM is preferred for faster loading of game area's and environments or between game levels.

What is the Graphics chip on the Intel i7 one? (besides the Intel HD graphics, or is that all it has?)

Otherwise, the AMD one has a decent budget range Graphics chip built into the CPU, that should play those games easily enough, maybe not at max settings, but should play them.

I upgraded to the 1gb AMD Radeon HD 7690M GDDR5 discrete graphics. I can't seem to find a ready to ship laptop in my budget with a 7200rpm drive anywhere, so this seems the best way to go, and his HP has lasted him for years. Now it's just what processor is the best bang for my buck....

[ShyguyXPC]

wait... wha?

is the AMD 7690M available on either laptop, or just the i7 one I asked about?

The 7690M is a decent mobile gaming chip, its actually a Rebadged HD 6750M running at 100MHz faster clock speed, but its still a good upper mid range mobile gaming graphics chip.


The i7 CPU would be the more powerful for gaming, and for workstation like tasks, video editing, photo editing, 3D rendering, Auto CAD, video transcoding, etc, like tasks, but for gaming either one will do fine.

If i'm not mistaken the AMD Quad core A8 should cost less, if the i7 your looking at is a Quad core as well, bear in mind some of the i7 Mobiles are also Dual cores, where as the Desktop models are exclusively Quad core only.

Can you be more specific on the actual hardware specs, specifically the CPU's your looking at. Would make it easier to compare them or at least look up info on them.

Or even better yet, links to the models of laptops your looking at.

Whats your budget for a laptop, maybe we can find one in your price range with a 7200RPM drive?

[GeekMom]

Here are the two I'm looking at right now. The AMD 7690M is on both. Right now there is 35% off on the i7 laptop, so it ends up costing less. I'm willing to pay a little more if the AMD is the better choice. This is pretty much the price range I'm wanting to stay in. I think this i7 is a dual core.
Thanks!

AMD laptop:
AMD Quad-Core A8-3550MX Accelerated Processor (2.7GHz/2.0GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7690M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, VGA]
FREE UPGRADE to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
No additional security software
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 5.5 hours of battery life +++
15.6" High Def LED HP Brightview (1366x768)
SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
802.11b/g/n WLAN
Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad

Intel laptop:
2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz
1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7690M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, VGA]
FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
No additional security software
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 6.0 hours of battery life +++
15.6" High Definition HP LED Brightview (1366x768)
FREE UPGRADE to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
802.11b/g/n WLAN
Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad

[ShyguyXPC]

The i7 is the better, it is a Quad core (QM designation is Quad core Mobile), so its Quad. its a slower clock speed of 2.2GHz, but overall performance should be greater since core for core Intel's Core Series CPU's are more powerful than AMD's even at same clock speeds.

Even in Single core games that don't use dual and quad cores, the performance should be as good if not better.

The only thing the AMD has going for it, is the included on CPU Graphics chip which is better than the on CPU graphics of the Intel chip, and can actually be used for gaming if so desired instead of the dedicated 7690M. The AMD A8's onchip GPU is actually nearly as powerful as the 7690M itself.



But with the AMD setup you can run the Dual GPU's in Crossfire mode, for increased gaming performance, though doesn't always work as its not exactly the same kind of crossfire setup on Desktops. Some games performance might suffer, others it would improve, you should be able to select just the Dedicated GPU if the games suffer, and run the 7690M by itself from the AMD Catalyst Control panel though.


Does my DV6Zqe have dual (crossfire) graphics?


For a purely gaming and basic use standpoint, if it were me, I'd swing for the AMD setup, but since I tend to use my systems for more than Gaming... 3D rendering, Video transcoding, etc, I'd have to opt for the Core i7 setup instead.

But for the games you mentioned in your first post, either laptop should run those games at max settings with good/decent framerates, as they're quite old and easily maxed out on $50-100 Desktop GPU's. Assassins Creed isn't that old, but its not very taxing for a game really.

[GeekMom]

The i7 is the better, it is a Quad core (QM designation is Quad core Mobile), so its Quad. its a slower clock speed of 2.2GHz, but overall performance should be greater since core for core Intel's Core Series CPU's are more powerful than AMD's even at same clock speeds.

Even in Single core games that don't use dual and quad cores, the performance should be as good if not better.

The only thing the AMD has going for it, is the included on CPU Graphics chip which is better than the on CPU graphics of the Intel chip, and can actually be used for gaming if so desired instead of the dedicated 7690M. The AMD A8's onchip GPU is actually nearly as powerful as the 7690M itself.



But with the AMD setup you can run the Dual GPU's in Crossfire mode, for increased gaming performance, though doesn't always work as its not exactly the same kind of crossfire setup on Desktops. Some games performance might suffer, others it would improve, you should be able to select just the Dedicated GPU if the games suffer, and run the 7690M by itself from the AMD Catalyst Control panel though.


Does my DV6Zqe have dual (crossfire) graphics?


For a purely gaming and basic use standpoint, if it were me, I'd swing for the AMD setup, but since I tend to use my systems for more than Gaming... 3D rendering, Video transcoding, etc, I'd have to opt for the Core i7 setup instead.

But for the games you mentioned in your first post, either laptop should run those games at max settings with good/decent framerates, as they're quite old and easily maxed out on $50-100 Desktop GPU's. Assassins Creed isn't that old, but its not very taxing for a game really.

Thank you soooooo much! You've been a huge help in all this!!

[ShyguyXPC]

no problem, post back with what you decided and how it works out.

I'm actually surprised the i7 one is cheaper, since for desktops i7's are hella expensive, and I know the AMD Llanos Fusion platform (the A4, A6, & A8 APU) are relatively cheap. Performance wise, an Intel Core i3 Dual Core at 3GHz or so is the same or in some cases more powerful than these.

But honestly the AMD one would be powerful enough IMO, however if the i7 one is cheaper, that 35% off might be enough to factor a 7200RPM HDD into the parts list as well.

[GeekMom]

no problem, post back with what you decided and how it works out.

I'm actually surprised the i7 one is cheaper, since for desktops i7's are hella expensive, and I know the AMD Llanos Fusion platform (the A4, A6, & A8 APU) are relatively cheap. Performance wise, an Intel Core i3 Dual Core at 3GHz or so is the same or in some cases more powerful than these.

But honestly the AMD one would be powerful enough IMO, however if the i7 one is cheaper, that 35% off might be enough to factor a 7200RPM HDD into the parts list as well.

With the 35% off the i7 model, it came to $776, the AMD model was $833, so I've ordered the i7 laptop.

Thanks again for all your help!

[Greg_728]

My research shows AMD always takes cuts in performance to lower the price. Although I do see many people using them with great results, my research has been in benchmarks. IMO Intel > AMD and Nvidia > AMD.

[ShyguyXPC]

it depends on the users needs, as it is for most gamers AMD's CPU's are actually more than enough.

but if your doing things beyond gaming, like higher end Workstation type tasks, then Intel's CPU's tend to pull ahead. AutoCAD, 3D rendering Image/Audio/Video Editing, transcoding, and other various high end computational tasks.

Sure benchmarks say Intel is better, but there's a difference between Better and what you actually need.

For example, a Ferrari is clearly better in performance than a Honda Civic. But in reality the Civic may be all you need, and more than enough performance for your needs/tasks.

Now maybe on the weekends you need to have a car to take out to the track and race... in which case, sure the Ferrari may be better, but only because you NEED it for that.

It all comes down to the needs of the users.

AMD also doesn't necessarily take cuts in performance to lower costs, its just the fact, their hardware is inferior to Intel's in Tech and Performance.

Though that hasn't always been the case, but they fell behind, and now for the past 5 years or so, has been known for more affordable, lesser performing tech, which when compared to Intel, costs less. As long as Intel keeps their prices High, it gives AMD a niche to sell their products in, but if Intel ever starts to really make headway in AMD's value market, you can kiss AMD goodbye, at least for normal PC hardware like CPU's and Motherboard chipsets.

AMD's still to this day struggling to make a profit. if anything, they are taking cuts in pricing to sell more and appeal more to consumers, and its slowly been doing them in for the last decade.

The only thing really keeping AMD afloat these days, was their acquisition of ATI back several years ago.

The ATI acquisition has breathed some life into AMD, despite them getting some massive funding from some Wealthy Arab Corporations/business men, to help them.

If it wasn't for the ATI Acquisition, we wouldn't have the AMD Fusion platform, like the AMD CPU's in the one laptop above, since they integrate a decent AMD Radeon graphics chip into the CPU core.