Core 2 Duo 2.6Ghz <-> i5-3210M

[LukasM96]

I get a new Laptop tomorrow with an i5-3210M Processor with 2.5GHz. Now I wanted to know if I can run a Game that needs a "Core 2 Duo 2.6GHz or higher" Processor.

 

[Wong Dong]

Yes

 

[LummusMaximus]

Most definately. As new generation processor, nearly everything has been massively improved since the core 2 duo days. You could probably run with your i5 running at 2GHz.

 

[jtenorj]

Your new laptop has a core i5 3210M which is a hyper threaded dual core with turbo. It has higher instructions per clock than core 2 duo. That is due in large part to 1: the move to smaller, faster L2 cache per core(vs a large shared L2 cache) and the addition of a large shared L3 Cache and 2: to integration of the memory controller onto the cpu to reduce latency(it was previously part of the motherboard chipset and ran at much lower speed). all that happened in the move from 45nm core 2 products to the first gen of core i7 and core i5 products(also 45nm and carried on to 32nm in core i3 and core 7 hexacore).

To give you an example: when the first core i7s launched, the lowest end $285 2.66ghz core i7 920 hyper threaded quad core had similar performance to the previous top of the line $1399 core 2 quad extreme 9770 at 3.2ghz(I think the i7 performed that well even if you turned off hyper threading).

There were only small improvement to ipc going from first gen i7s/i5s/i3s to sandy, and then again to ivy(what your cpu is based on). With that in mind, your new cpu will be more than capable of running your game.

 

[photonboy]

Yes and No.

While the CPU is acceptable, no mention was made of what GPU (graphics) the laptop has. Games have multiple requirements to run well, and the GPU is one of the most important ones.

If your laptop just has the Intel iGPU then you're going to be held back a lot due to the weak graphics, depending on the game of course.

An example of a good laptop GPU would be a 750M or better.

 

[jtenorj]

Yes and No.

While the CPU is acceptable, no mention was made of what GPU (graphics) the laptop has. Games have multiple requirements to run well, and the GPU is one of the most important ones.

If your laptop just has the Intel iGPU then you're going to be held back a lot due to the weak graphics, depending on the game of course.

An example of a good laptop GPU would be a 750M or better.

Dude! Why didn't I consider that?

 

[LummusMaximus]

Yes and No.

While the CPU is acceptable, no mention was made of what GPU (graphics) the laptop has. Games have multiple requirements to run well, and the GPU is one of the most important ones.

If your laptop just has the Intel iGPU then you're going to be held back a lot due to the weak graphics, depending on the game of course.

An example of a good laptop GPU would be a 750M or better.

Dude! Why didn't I consider that?

Maybe he didn't ask about that because his other specs are up to scratch, and he only needed to know about CPU.