Core i7-620M vs. i7-720QM - which one would you pick?

[Parasitic]

Both upgrades are the same price over the base i5 processor for the laptop I'm looking at. The 620M is a dual core while the 720 is quad right? But in daily ops and typical, unoptimized games how much difference is there?

 

[MJinZ]

Huh? I did read "same price" right right? If so, why is this a question?

 

[IntelUser2000]

i7 720QM is a quad, but the clock speed with Turbo Mode goes like following.

1.60GHz Base
1.73GHz Quad Core Turbo
2.40GHz Dual Core Turbo
2.80GHz Single Core Turbo

i7 620M is like this:

2.66GHz Base
3.06GHz Dual Core Turbo
3.33GHz Single Core Turbo

See the clock speed differences? Even in heavily multi-threaded apps it'll be a wash because of the massive clock speed gap.

I'd go for the 620M, it'll be faster in most cases and competitive in the worst, and with better battery life and lower heat.

 

[jjmIII]

The old Dual core vs Quad core debate.
It all depends on what you will use the cpu for.

EDIT: great info above..

 

[Parasitic]

I was inclined to go with the 620M since I haven't been following CPU trends after Intel switched to this new i# nomenclature, but just wanted confirmation.

So clock-for-clock is i7 much faster than C2D? I don't have anything optimized for multiple cores, so no idea how much more beneficial 4 cores will be over 2.

 

[cbn]

The old Dual core vs Quad core debate.
It all depends on what you will use the cpu for.

EDIT: great info above..

With a low TDP ceiling I can see "dual core" being a wiser choice for gaming.

In desktops, with higher TDPs allowed for quad cores the performance gap seems larger.

 

[cbn]

I don't have anything optimized for multiple cores, so no idea how much more beneficial 4 cores will be over 2.

The quad core will likely be much slower than the dual core if what you are saying is the case.

 

[UrbaseRbelong2]

i7 720QM is a quad, but the clock speed with Turbo Mode goes like following.

1.60GHz Base
1.73GHz Quad Core Turbo
2.40GHz Dual Core Turbo
2.80GHz Single Core Turbo

i7 620M is like this:

2.66GHz Base
3.06GHz Dual Core Turbo
3.33GHz Single Core Turbo

See the clock speed differences? Even in heavily multi-threaded apps it'll be a wash because of the massive clock speed gap.

I'd go for the 620M, it'll be faster in most cases and competitive in the worst, and with better battery life and lower heat.

Unfortunately it's not quite that simple. The 720qm has a 50% larger cache, a 30% faster bus, and an on-die memory controller vs the 620m on-package memory controller.

 

[Throckmorton]

Some more discussion here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=450403

 

[Midwayman]

I don't do much that really takes advantage of more than 2 cores. I'd just pick the one with the lower TDP.

Its worth noting that plenty of i7 notebooks are hitting throttling issues for heat on some of them, and even too small of a power supply on some of them. Its something to be careful with, and the lower the TDP the less likely that issue is to crop up.