i7 720qm laptop cpu question

[SpeedZealot369]

I tried looking on google for this but couldn't find it. I have a G73jh laptop. it has a 1.6ghz i7 720qm cpu that was advertised as having a 2.8ghz overclock option.

now I did enable the turbo mode in the bios. can someone explain how this turbo overclock works? I can't have the cpu speed changing every second while playing call of duty or starcraft.
thanks!

 

[hans007]

it only goes to turbo when it needs it. probably won't do it if its on batteries either.

my work machine is a i7 720qm and thats how it seems to work. modern OSes do not speed up or slow down a game based on the current clock speed so it wont matter anyway in SC2 etc.

 

[d4a2n0k]

The CPU can bump up the clock speed but it will not hit 2.8 ghz on all four cores. IIRC, it is something like this:

1.6GHz base/1.73GHz 4 cores/2.4GHz 2 cores/2.8GHz 1 core for the 720qm

The mobile i7's will only hit the maximum speed on one core. It depends on how many threads the program you are using calls for. The G73 will actually push it a little further, I've seen mine go over 3 ghz on one core. Install this monitor, it puts a little gadget on your desktop and you can see the CPU do its thing. http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-031038.htm

 

[Seferio]

Intel's Turbo Boost technology right now functions based on how many cores are active and idle. Most of the time you will find yourself with at most 1 idle core with a Quad Core so you will never see the full 2.8GHz boost state that requires 3 idle cores.

If I am not mistaken, from a gaming perspective the faster Core i5 mobile CPUs are usually better than the quad Core i7's since they run at a much higher clock speed.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

If I am not mistaken, from a gaming perspective the faster Core i5 mobile CPUs are usually better than the quad Core i7's since they run at a much higher clock speed.

The i7s have more cache, which should play a big role for gaming. Although I'm not sure how big of a clockspeed gap more cache can cover as I haven't seen an in-depth review of the matter, but I'd estimate it an extra 3MB of L3 can make up 150-300 MHz of clockspeed.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

i see. so it might be a good investment upgrading the cpu?

 

[betasub]

Er, that i7 720qm should be fine. What upgrade are you talking about?

 

[hans007]

Er, that i7 720qm should be fine. What upgrade are you talking about?

definitely not a good invdstment. i think the only 2 higher cpus are the 840qm and the 740qm and the EE one. and they are all really expensive and barely faster.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

definitely not a good invdstment. i think the only 2 higher cpus are the 840qm and the 740qm and the EE one. and they are all really expensive and barely faster.

You missed the fact there are two EE's

So the faster options are -

740QM
820QM
840QM
920XM
940XM

All of which have massive outlays and won't increase performance by a huge amount.