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Xellon · 10-26-2009 02:10 AM

Is it worth paying an extra $550 (USA) for a 3.20ghz processor when another processor is 3.06ghz and much cheaper?

Will that amount give a significant boost in performance?

EDIT: these are the turbo boost specs. Here is what I'm looking at.

i7-820QM 1.73 GHz base frequency

i7-920XM 2.0GHz base frequency

diegochiha · 10-26-2009 02:40 AM

just oveclock the cheaper one and there you go ^^

Xellon · 10-26-2009 02:44 AM

(10-26-2009 02:40 AM)diegochiha Wrote: just oveclock the cheaper one and there you go ^^

lol

I knew someone was going to say that, but I would like to know for technical reasons.

diegochiha · 10-26-2009 03:45 AM

well despite of the difference in max tdp there isnt any difference on this processors =.=

boogerthe2nd · 10-26-2009 04:16 AM

Intel Extreme processors are never worth the hefty price tag they carry. They are basically made for hardcore benchers (with unlimited supplies of funds and LN2) and those with unlimited funds full-stop.

As has been mentioned, just buy a cheaper processor and overclock it. You may find that a cheaper chip could achieve an even higher overclock if you are lucky. And a <200Mhz increase (~6-7%) is not going to make a huge difference unless you're comparing say a 400Mhz CPU with a 600Mhz CPU (50% increase).

dr_thrax · 10-26-2009 04:43 AM

Overclocking a mobile processor? That's some risky business.
Well, $500 is a lot of money for just a slight clock increase. Who ever is in charge of marketing lost his/her mind. Seriously, this is the same deal as the i7 860 and 870. 870 is 100MHZ faster and it costs almost twice as much.
Yeah, it's really hard to give any kind of advice. I would just buy the 820QM, because it is cheaper and not that much slower, but that's just me though.

boogerthe2nd · 10-26-2009 05:15 AM

The extra cost for an Extreme processor is for the unlocked multiplier, which gives you more options for overclocking.

And Turbo Boost is essentially an automatic overclock, so the chip itself was designed to operate past it's base frequency.

**rama** · 10-26-2009 06:27 AM

Totally not worth it. Tongue

dr_thrax · 10-26-2009 07:53 AM

(10-26-2009 05:15 AM)boogerthe2nd Wrote: so the chip itself was designed to operate past it's base frequency.

Oh I'm not too worry about the CPU itself. It's the laptop's PCB that makes it risky to overclock.

**ChronicNL** · 10-26-2009 09:13 AM

no need to overclock, once the turbo kicks in the first 2 cores will go 3ghz
making it effectivly a 3ghz dual core

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode 3.06ghz compared to 3.20ghz
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