Need help finding the desktop equivalent of some laptop components

[argonite]

So I'm looking to upgrade my computing power in time for January so that I can play games with my friends, who all have much more powerful computers.

Exactly how underpowered is my current setup? Well, it's a 3+ year old laptop for one. It was showing its age back when I got it from Best Buy (couldn't run Assassin's Creed at anything more than DVD resolution, all low) for around $1100, and I really thought I had gotten a good deal at the time. Turns out it was a ripoff, and I don't want that happening again. I have learned since then of custom gaming laptops from companies like Sager that provide much more performance for cheaper, and of course I've been interested in building my own desktop to get even more performance for my dollar.

Is portability that important to me? Well, it depends. I move around a lot, sometimes internationally, and my current laptop is very good in that regard. However, if I can get significantly more bang for my buck, I'm willing to deal with the extra portability hassle of a desktop. So it's a performance vs. price. vs portability thing. If I were to build a desktop, I'd be starting basically from scratch, with no knowledge of building my own computer. I hear it follows the principle of "if you're forcing it, it probably doesn't go there" and I can read some online guides.

Basically, to help my decision between building a desktop and buying a gaming laptop, I'd like to see how far desktops have come by comparing similarly powered components. The laptop I'm planning to buy (configured by Malibal) includes:

Intel? Core? i7-2670QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.2-3.1GHz

NVIDIA? GeForce? GTX 560M 1.5GB GDDR5

What are the desktop component equivalents (in ATI/NVidia Intel/AMD)? (doesn't matter if they're obsolete by now)

If you'd like to know more parts, I can list them, but these are the ones I think are most important. Thanks!

[Allan]

Where are you located?

What is your price range?

I'd suggest an Asus G74xx-A1 or similar to that. If you're in the US/Canada the Asus warranty is the best in the industry - and you don't pay for it (Unlike Dell/HP's warranties.)

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[argonite]

The reason I didn't state a price or location was because I am not yet looking for a gaming laptop or a desktop (that'll be a different thread).

I just want to know how the laptop parts I have currently selected would stack up in the desktop world. I recognize that they will definitely be inferior to the latest desktop parts, but it's a question of HOW inferior (raw numbers), and whether I'm willing to bear that inferiority for the sake of portability.

[Wakers]

The thing is, the graphics card and processor in the laptop are not at all comparible to desktop alternatives.

The desktop i5 2500 would probably give you better performance than the laptop i7, and any mid range desktop graphics card will be better than the 560M.

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

The PC components would be pretty much the same as the laptop ones, i7 processors are released for both the PC and laptop markets, as is the same model of graphics card.

Laptops haven't usually been made for gaming but recently with the power of components like the ones you have listed, they can perform just about as well as a PC could.

The components you listed should work fine for any of the games about just now. Just make sure you have a decent amount of memory in there as well (6GB or over should be fine), also make sure that memory performs fast (1300MHz or above).

Hope this helps ;)

[Wakers]

  On 23/11/2011 at 16:06, PsYcHoKiLLa said:

The PC components would be pretty much the same as the laptop ones, i7 processors are released for both the PC and laptop markets, as is the same model of graphics card.

Laptops haven't usually been made for gaming but recently with the power of components like the ones you have listed, they can perform just about as well as a PC could.

The components you listed should work fine for any of the games about just now. Just make sure you have a decent amount of memory in there as well (6GB or over should be fine), also make sure that memory performs fast (1300MHz or above).

Hope this helps ;)

This is a bit misleading, you make it sound like the 560M would be equal to the 560 (desktop) which is not right. Same with the processor. Laptop versions are heavily scaled down in performance because of the amount of cooling required for the desktop versions - which obviously you can't cram into a laptop.

[argonite]

To give an idea of what I'm looking for, I did a little research. It turns out the 560M is just barely less capable than my friend's 3 year old desktop Radeon HD 4850 something. That is, I can probably play Skyrim and have it look just like it does on his computer (if a slight factor slower). So that's a good start.

[Wakers]

So the processor actually performs quite a bit worse than an i5 2500k.

You can get a 6850 for ?140 if you look hard enough and that is vastly superior to the 560M.

[argonite]

  On 23/11/2011 at 16:16, Wakers said:

So the processor actually performs quite a bit worse than an i5 2500k.

You can get a 6850 for ?140 if you look hard enough and that is vastly superior to the 560M.

I see! Yes, I was thinking of a 6850 (or a 6950, or a 6870) if I were to go desktop. Question is, how much worse is the laptop CPU it than the i5 2500k (which I was also thinking of getting)?

If it helps, I'll be using the CPU for HD video editing and playing Wii games on Dolphin. Since this isn't a Dolphin forum, I'll just stick with raw numbers.

[Teebor]

Someone I know used to say why buy a laptop when you can get a PC twice as good for half the price?

Which would mean a laptop in terms of gaming would be a quarter of the performance of a PC, doesn't really ring true in the case of some decent gaming laptops I think but then you pay big bucks for those

[Wakers]

I was looking at the passmark list, which I use for processors which I don't or haven't owned. It scores a good chunk lower (7500ish to 6500ish) which is quite noticeable.

I always used to go by a similar saying to what Teebor mentioned. If you spend ?1000 on a laptop, you could get a better system for about ?550 if you're looking at just the components.

If you're looking at video editing, you would be better off looking at a desktop i7 for the extra work - if you can afford it. The i5 would be excellent, but the i7 would be even better. It just comes down to budget.

As that sort of work is core intensive, you could even look at the AMD range of 6 cored processors. They're no match for Intel for most stuff including gaming, but they *should* be better at tasks that actually use all 6 cores.

[argonite]

  On 23/11/2011 at 16:27, Wakers said:

I was looking at the passmark list, which I use for processors which I don't or haven't owned. It scores a good chunk lower (7500ish to 6500ish) which is quite noticeable.

I always used to go by a similar saying to what Teebor mentioned. If you spend ?1000 on a laptop, you could get a better system for about ?550 if you're looking at just the components.

If you're looking at video editing, you would be better off looking at a desktop i7 for the extra work - if you can afford it. The i5 would be excellent, but the i7 would be even better. It just comes down to budget.

As that sort of work is core intensive, you could even look at the AMD range of 6 cored processors. They're no match for Intel for most stuff including gaming, but they *should* be better at tasks that actually use all 6 cores.

Thanks for the advice. I also appreciate the guideline from Teebor, and I'll keep that in mind in my decision.

The Dolphin emulator is a dual-core intensive program, and would greatly benefit from generous overclocking (up to 4 Ghz) of two cores and cannot use more than two. Since I'll probably be doing that more than editing, I'll stick with an i5.

[Wakers]

Bear in mind for overclocking you pretty much have to go with the i5 2500k as it offers much more flexibility with voltages and clock speed combinations than the other i5 models.

[chconline Veteran]

Yeah, don't bother with those so-called gaming laptops. In the end, you'll achieve none. It's not cheap, it's not powerful, and it's not portable. I occasionally game with my ThinkPad T420 with dedicated graphics (NVIDIA NVS 4200M), which runs games at around medium settings -- on my 1600x900 display -- but at least it's portable and gets 9 hours battery life,

[Argote]

The GeForce GTX 560M is on the same tier as:

nVidia Discrete: 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250, GTS 450

nVidia Go (mobile): 560M

ATI Discrete: HD 3870 X2, HD 4850, HD 5750, HD 6750

ATI Mobility: HD 4850, HD 5850

You can check the whole tier based hierarchy chart for most cards on the market here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fastest-graphics-card-radeon-geforce,3067-7.html

[ViperAFK]

Laptops are just poor for gaming IMO. Using a laptop vs a keyboard + separate monitor just feels awkward and wrong to me, "gaming" laptops are easily prone to overheating, and they have poorer-performing hardware for a bigger price.

[argonite]

  On 23/11/2011 at 18:07, Argote said:

The GeForce GTX 560M is on the same tier as:

nVidia Discrete: 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250, GTS 450

nVidia Go (mobile): 560M

ATI Discrete: HD 3870 X2, HD 4850, HD 5750, HD 6750

ATI Mobility: HD 4850, HD 5850

You can check the whole tier based hierarchy chart for most cards on the market here: http://www.tomshardw...rce,3067-7.html

I have to admit. This is exactly what I was looking for! I can even see the terribad NVidia GeForce 8400M GS I have right now (and how it was beaten by integrated graphics :cry:).

Now is there a chart for CPUs?

[Argote]

There's this but I don't think it has mobile CPUs: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-overclocking,3052-5.html though in most cases performance is nearly identical to similarly specced desktop units.