Help me with a bet!

[hisksk]

I have just purchased a HP Pavilion dv6-6117dx Laptop: AMD Quad Core A8-3500M 2.4GHz, 15.6" LED 1366x768, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, HD 6620G, WiFi-N, 6-Cell Battery, Win 7 Prem $430.

My friend says that it is equivalent to a low end sandybridge core i3 but I say it is more comparable to a sandybridge core i5. Who is right? I have some money riding on this!

Can anyone help me in optimizing it to run Dolphin? If i buy another 4gb of ram will that help in aiding a smoother emulation of the system?

Also, I heard you can overclock this system. Running through various forums, I cannot get a concrete answer as to overclocking shortens the lifespan of a computer system.

[gamax92]

Well it can shorten the life span if you run it too hot. As long as it doesnt get past 70C you should be fine. But 50C is recommended as max.

[hisksk]

(11-27-2011, 05:00 AM)gamax92 Wrote: Well it can shorten the life span if you run it too hot. As long as it doesnt get past 70C you should be fine. But 50C is recommended as max.

thxs! What do you think of this system running Dolphin emulator?

[gamax92]

Well im running a AMD Quad at 3.00GHz with 4GB of DDR3 with Win 7 on 1920x1028. Most games i run get 60 fps except at scene transitions and cutscenes.
Thats almost simular to your setup except i run a pc not a laptop.

I guess your both right, both of those processors slowst clock speeds are 2.5GHz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge <- do a CTRL-F for i3 and i5 and you should find some info about those processors.

[NaturalViolence]

Quote:My friend says that it is equivalent to a low end sandybridge core i3 but I say it is more comparable to a sandybridge core i5. Who is right? I have some money riding on this!

Depends on the software being run. As far as dolphin is concerned your friend is correct, a sandy bridge i5 mobile is much faster than sabine (mobile version of llano).

Quote:If i buy another 4gb of ram will that help in aiding a smoother emulation of the system?

No.

Quote: I cannot get a concrete answer as to overclocking shortens the lifespan of a computer system.

Raising the clock rate does not necessarily decrease lifespan but raising the voltage can. Also like gamax92 said long term overheating can shorten the lifespan as well.

[ExtremeDude2]

Never under estimate a sandybrige

[pwnedatdolphin]

your friend is right

[hisksk]

Nooooooooo!


Now you have me wondering if I should get a better processor.

I am in no rush, do you think it is wise to wait for the new laptops coming out with the Windows 8? That means better processors and Windows 8. What would you guys do in this situation, if you were very patient?

[admin89]

A8 3500M is cheaper than i5
PC games : A8 3500m get better FPS because of 4 cores usage
Dolphin : A8 3500m is much much slower than i5 (2410m) because :
_ Dolphin uses only 2 cores
_ Llano clock speed is too low : 1.5->2.4ghz , i5 : 2.3->2.7ghz (2.9ghz is single core)
_ Sandy Bridge is much faster than LlAno clock for clock
I bet you could get 30 FPS on that Llano while i5 could run fullspeed 60 FPS
But i5 must par with a good GPU (Nvidia GT 540M or AMD 6650M)

[hisksk]

(11-27-2011, 03:47 PM)admin89 Wrote: A8 3500M is cheaper than i5
PC games : A8 3500m get better FPS because of 4 cores usage
Dolphin : A8 3500m is much much slower than i5 (2410m) because :
_ Dolphin uses only 2 cores
_ Llano clock speed is too low : 1.5->2.4ghz , i5 : 2.3->2.7ghz (2.9ghz is single core)
_ Sandy Bridge is much faster than LlAno clock for clock
I bet you could get 30 FPS on that Llano while i5 could run fullspeed 60 FPS
But i5 must par with a good GPU (Nvidia GT 540M or AMD 6650M)

Wow thanks for the informative post!

I have been reading that people are overclocking/undervolting the machines with k10 stat where it easily peaks at around an i5 2.3ghz. If that is true and it is stable, would it be able to emulate the wii at 60fps? Keep in mind, I am just a novice at this stuff....

On the other hand what would be the lesser of two evils? Sticking with this laptop's specs, or holding off for a better i5 (but probably at a higher cost)? I bought this laptop for only $430, and now I'm reading about the "trinity" chips. Choices, choices, choices...

Really appreciate everyone's comments!