Trinity GPU: How much RAM amount would you choose?

0meg4

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Hi, i've read a lot of posts regarding the same "budget gaming laptop" issue and i've narrowed to this 2 options:

HP Pavilion dv6-7010us
499$ 6GB RAM 750HDD
Acer Aspire V3-551-8469]
449$ 4GB RAM 500HD + 39$ 8GB RAM
My budget is 500$ top, no further.
I'm not a hardcore gamer. I'll be only playing 3 games:

- DOTA
- CS 1.6
- COD: MW, MW2, MW3 (I know the last two need better GPU power, but i don't mind playing them at low settings)

As you see, for my budget, those 2 laptops with A8 / 7640g will be enough.
My real concern is, would the Radeon HD 7640g be fine with HP's 6GB or should i get the Acer + 8GB?

I mainly use my laptop with 10~ tabs Google chrome, tweetdeck and winamp always running while playing.

The 750GB HDD plus on the HP it's not deal breaker for me.
Are those HP overheating days over? I would be getting a cooling pad anyways.
Btw, im from Venezuela, and we do have HP's technical service here. Acer don't.

Thanks in advance.
Luis Dudamel.
 
Solution
Well, the Lenovo Z580 is just plain better than the Acer. Better and newer processor, bigger hard drive, more RAM. The Z585 has more battery life and probably doesn't produce quite as much heat as the Z580, but the extra power use does allow better performance too. Z580 gets my vote.

The Acer is cheaper, but only by a little - the extra money is well spent.

The Geforce GT 630M comes with its own memory. But even if it didn't, 6 GB is enough for your requirements now and probably a few years into the future.

Sakkura

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The graphics side of things won't use much of the total RAM (even midrange desktop graphics cards are only now beginning to switch over to 2 GB), so the 6 GB version should be alright. In a desktop I would have told you to definitely get 8 GB, but in this case other things are most likely going to hold you back long before the 6 GB of RAM does.
 

0meg4

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Thanks for the clarification.
So, taking your word, even the Acer's 4gb should be alright for my purposes? I won't be seeing any substantial difference?
I could use those 50$ for getting a new plantronics.
 

Sakkura

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Not so sure about having just 4 GB. Ideally you'd want at least 4 GB just for system memory, and the graphics will eat part of it (even if it's only half a GB). So I would either get the HP or the 8 GB version of the Acer.
 
I am currently using my laptop which only has 4GB of RAM and I am using the Intel HD 3000 instead of the dedicated nVidia GT 550m. I have 12 tabs opened in FireFox and I am encoding a video at the same time.

Based on Windows Task Manager I am currently using 2.47GB of RAM.
 
The nVidia GT 630m is definitely more powerful than the integrated Radeon HD 7640g.

The Core i3 is more powerful than AMD's A8 APU, but programs that can make use of 4 cores should run a little better on the A8 than the i3 (depending on which i3). The vast majority of programs do not use more than 2 cores so the i3 can beat an A8 most of the time.

Everything you listed uses no more than 2 cores. However, if you were to play a game that can use more than 2 cores, the i3 + the GT 630m will give you better performance simply because the GT 630m is more powerful than the 7640g.
 

0meg4

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You think i can do that with COD instead of your video encoding app? If that's so, i won't be needing more than 4GB. Correct me if am wrong.



Yeah, it is more powerful, but also more expensive, so it would be my last choice. As i said, i don't think i need the 630m graphic power. I just need to run med settings COD smoothly (fps>quality).
When you say "4 core programs", you mean encoding software and high cpu stress stuff right? I won't be using any of that. But it's kinda future proof, I don't really know.
4 core games, i don't know, but COD engines do REALLY benefit from 4 cores? If that so, i'd choose the A8/A10 config.
Honestly, i don't trust the i3 not :whistle: even for daily use



I've seen that acer, and im kinda angry it's not listed in amazon. HP website isn't an option, tho.
Here in Venezuela, we can only use amazon for shopping *sigh*

I do open photoshop, but for light editing, like applying brushes and stuff, and my old lenovo T61 does it just fine with just 2 GB 667, so.
Regarding de dual channel issue, i've came across that yesterday, so if i upgrade, it necessarily have to be 8GB instead 6gb?


 

0meg4

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Ok, just got another 100 bucks to spend, so i can increase my budget to 600$ TOP, no further.
Options:

Lenovo Z585 A10 4600 / 6GB / 7660g / 750GB


Lenovo Z580 / i5 3210 / 6GB / GT 630M 1GB / 750GB

Theres the issue of the 6gb again :??:

BOTH 550$


Acer i3 2370 / 4GB / GT 630M 1GB / 500GB

520$

Plus 40$ to get 8GB if you tell me that i really will need those.
Does the i3 really handle those tasks smoothly?
Well, if i get the 630M thing, i won't be eating ram while playing right?

Keep in mind i only will be running COD, DOTA and CS 1.6. Google Chrome with several tabs, watching movies, winamp, etc. Light use in my opinion.

EDIT: There's also the heating issue.
Don't the i3/i5 + Nvidia get hotter than Trinity APU's?
 

Sakkura

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Well, the Lenovo Z580 is just plain better than the Acer. Better and newer processor, bigger hard drive, more RAM. The Z585 has more battery life and probably doesn't produce quite as much heat as the Z580, but the extra power use does allow better performance too. Z580 gets my vote.

The Acer is cheaper, but only by a little - the extra money is well spent.

The Geforce GT 630M comes with its own memory. But even if it didn't, 6 GB is enough for your requirements now and probably a few years into the future.
 
Solution

aicom

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I'm not so sure about 6GB with integrated graphics being used for gaming. The issue is not the capacity but the performance.

AMD's integrated graphics are very sensitive to memory performance. Most (all?) 6GB configurations are 1 2GB stick and 1 4GB stick. This prevents dual-channel performance on that last 2GB. If that's where the GPU happens to allocate its memory from, your performance suffers.
 

0meg4

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Yeah, and Lenovo do have support here in my country. They've gained some respect for his products build and solid support.
Lenovo it is.


I'm not sure either, i don't really know much in this matter, and that was the origin of this thread on the first place.
So, despite which laptop i choose (discrete vs apu), it definitively has to be 4 or 8gb, am i right?


Bottom line, it's between A10 vs i5 (if i tell you how many threads i've seen bout it) and 630M vs 7660g (same here).
I only play when i get from work, and play those games with my friends. We're just a bunch of old guys (25-30, dunno if that's old) playing the games they used to play years ago, in their free time. So, will play just that and light multimedia use.
The concern i got bout heat, is because we do live in a very hot city, i dont have air conditioner, and even that im getting a cooling pad, i do fear the heat damage issue that could be related to the GT 630M / i5 combo.
So, i don't really mind waiting 2-3 more sec for system to load, or dont have blazing fast response (assuming that's the difference between A10 - i5) as long as my pc stays cool and harmless.

Thanks for your replies, really.
 


I currently have 11 tabs open in Firefox, I am using the Intel HD 3000 instead of the nVidia GT 550m and I have Mass Effect 3 loaded. I do not have COD so I can't say how much RAM it will use.

Excluding ME3 the laptop is using 1.62GB. With ME3 loaded up RAM usage is at 2.54GB. The most RAM used by a game that I recall seeing is about 1.2GB - 1.4GB; add that on to the 1.62GB and you basically get about 3GB of RAM used.