2GB 8670m vs. 1GB 7670m

[Feggans222]

Hey guys, I've been looking at two laptops to buy, and I'm not quite sure which to get.

The first has 4GB RAM with 1GB Radeon 7670M (DDR3), and the second has 8GB of RAM with 2GB Radeon 8670M (DDR3).

The processors are both the same (i5 3230m), but the first one is $580 and the second is $700 (these are Australian dollars so both are pretty good deals).

I'm looking to play mostly older games, with some newish ones on low settings. Will the 8670 with 2gb and 8gb ram play them better (most people are saying that the 7670 is better), and is the extra performance worth the extra price?

Thanks in advance.

 

[stickmansam]

you'll really want 8GB of ram, how much it would it cost to add 4GB of ram to the 7670m?

The 7670m has a 128bit memoery interface compared to the 8670m (64bit) but the 8670m has more compute power (GCN cores coampred to VLIW5). I would say they would perform roughly the same with the 8670m being more battery friendly.

A further check on notebookcheck shows the 7570m performing better than the 8670m, seems the 8670m is severely bandwidth starved
http/www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8670M.87211.0.html
(look to the game benchmarks)

Final advice is to go for the 7670m and add in extra 4gb of ram. A 4GB DDR3 SO-Dimm is not too pricey.
http/pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#qq=1&t=8,9&s=301066,301333,301600&z=4096&sort=a8
Best to see if the 7670m laptop has an extra DIMM slot of it before deciding.
Bear in mind, all things being equal, the 7670m will suck a bit more power than the 8670m. As with most laptops, serious gaming should be done on AC power.

 

[Feggans222]

you'll really want 8GB of ram, how much it would it cost to add 4GB of ram to the 7670m?

The 7670m has a 128bit memoery interface compared to the 8670m (64bit) but the 8670m has more compute power (GCN cores coampred to VLIW5). I would say they would perform roughly the same with the 8670m being more battery friendly.

A further check on notebookcheck shows the 7570m performing better than the 8670m, seems the 8670m is severely bandwidth starved
http/www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8670M.87211.0.html
(look to the game benchmarks)

Final advice is to go for the 7670m and add in extra 4gb of ram. A 4GB DDR3 SO-Dimm is not too pricey.
http/pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#qq=1&t=8,9&s=301066,301333,301600&z=4096&sort=a8
Best to see if the 7670m laptop has an extra DIMM slot of it before deciding.
Bear in mind, all things being equal, the 7670m will suck a bit more power than the 8670m. As with most laptops, serious gaming should be done on AC power.

Thanks for the quick reply, I just wasn't sure whether the having an extra gig of memory for the 8670m would outplay the 7670m which is supposedly better (still not sure on that, because many comparisons say the 7670 has DDR5 and that is a major reason for it being faster, whereas my laptop specifically says 7670 DDR3).

Extra confusion arose when despite it being ranked higher on notebookcheck.net, the 8670 performed worse in almost every game benchmark.

But if you think the 7670 will perform better even with less memory, thats better for me seeing as that is the cheaper laptop.

The specs for the laptop class (it is a HP Pavilion g6-2331tx) say that it has "2 customer-accessible/upgradable SODIMM slots", so I assume that means it can be expanded. Just a question, will a single 8gb RAM unit perform better than two 4GB RAMs, or will it be pretty much the same?

Also, is installing extra RAM particularly difficult (not much experience fiddling with hardware), and do you really think I'll need it?

Thanks again for the response.

 

[stickmansam]

you'll want 2x4gb to enable dual channel. I an expecting the HP Pavilion to have 1 4gb ina slot and the other slot empty. If you can call the place and confirm before you order, that would be best.

Even with DDR3, the 8670 is 64bit DDR3 while the 7670m would be 128bit DDR3

For most laptops, you unscrew 1-2 screws, take off a pnel, snap ram in then close up panel.

Here is a review of the exact model
http/notebookplanet.blogspot.ca/2013/05/hp-pavilion-g6-2331tx-specs.html

Notebookcheck ranking is based on a variety of factors,sometimes they mess up

With the moneys you saved, you can even try grabbing an SSHD or SSD

 

[Feggans222]

you'll want 2x4gb to enable dual channel. I an expecting the HP Pavilion to have 1 4gb ina slot and the other slot empty. If you can call the place and confirm before you order, that would be best.

Even with DDR3, the 8670 is 64bit DDR3 while the 7670m would be 128bit DDR3

For most laptops, you unscrew 1-2 screws, take off a pnel, snap ram in then close up panel.

Here is a review of the exact model
http/notebookplanet.blogspot.ca/2013/05/hp-pavilion-g6-2331tx-specs.html

Notebookcheck ranking is based on a variety of factors,sometimes they mess up

With the moneys you saved, you can even try grabbing an SSHD or SSD

OK thanks, yeah it says somewhere else it has 1x4gb RAM and 2 slots, so one has to be empty. On the HP website it says to make sure you use the same type and brand of RAM when you add another unit in; is there any way to know this other than opening the computer up and taking a look?

And on another note; how much does RAM actually matter in a graphics card, because on another thread I saw a guy was comparing a 1gb or 2gb 7670, and the replier told him he would never use the extra gig with a low end system. Is that pretty much how it works, like if I got the 2gb 8670 I would have half the bus width and not really even utilise the extra memory?

Thanks again man

 

[stickmansam]

No, not really, the OEM's (HP) tend to use what is cheaper for them at the time so you can't rely on what other people have had. I would get the laptop first, open it up (or run CPU-Z)[quick google search will pull it up] and see what ram it is. Generally, there is no need to use the same ram, just get something with the same timing and speeds. But of course, using the same ram is "safer". My laptop came with a Samsung stick and a Kingston stick from the factory. The two sticks did have the same timing and clock speed though.

At the resolution you're playing at 768p, and the gpu core you have, you're unlieky to need more than 1GB of VRAM. Its how like you don't need a large gas tank in a car,, because you only do short trips (e.g. low resolution) and engine is very gas efficient (e.g. gpu core isn't strong enough to do things that wold require 2gb of vram)

No problem

 

[Feggans222]

No, not really, the OEM's (HP) tend to use what is cheaper for them at the time so you can't rely on what other people have had. I would get the laptop first, open it up (or run CPU-Z)[quick google search will pull it up] and see what ram it is. Generally, there is no need to use the same ram, just get something with the same timing and speeds. But of course, using the same ram is "safer". My laptop came with a Samsung stick and a Kingston stick from the factory. The two sticks did have the same timing and clock speed though.

At the resolution you're playing at 768p, and the gpu core you have, you're unlieky to need more than 1GB of VRAM. Its how like you don't need a large gas tank in a car,, because you only do short trips (e.g. low resolution) and engine is very gas efficient (e.g. gpu core isn't strong enough to do things that wold require 2gb of vram)

No problem

One last thing, reading a bit more closely I realised installing more RAM will void my warranty. Do you think it's worth it? Because I don't really want to have an error that's probably unrelated happen and they can say that my warranty is voided because I put in more RAM. Is there any way I can get a specialist to install it or something that won't void my warranty (even though it sounds pretty simple)?

 

[stickmansam]

hmm I would call HP up or the store up and ask for either permission or if if some professional can do it

AFAIK, the warranty is only 1 year so you could wait

My brother pays most games with only 4GB of ram and its okay usually. Only bf4 has given him issue though he dosen;t really play newer games. 4GB will mean for sure you should not multitask while playing though

 

[Feggans222]

hmm I would call HP up or the store up and ask for either permission or if if some professional can do it

AFAIK, the warranty is only 1 year so you could wait

My brother pays most games with only 4GB of ram and its okay usually. Only bf4 has given him issue though he dosen;t really play newer games. 4GB will mean for sure you should not multitask while playing though

OK that might be a good idea, BF4 is likely a lot more intensive than what I'm aiming for. Don't multitask - sounds simple enough. Once I get it I'll try it out first with the 4gb and if I'm really struggling maybe I'll risk it, but otherwise yeah maybe I'll just wait, especially if I can't do it without voiding my warranty.

Alright, I think that's all my questions answered haha, thanks for the help, much appreciated.

 

[stickmansam]

Its all good