Core i3 (330M), ATI 5650 HD vs Core i5 (520M), Nvidia 330M

[reachbinnie]

Hi All,

I want a laptop primarily for gaming and HD content playing purpose and am not able to decide between the following 2 Sony Vaio:

1. E Series (VPCEB16FG)

Core i3 330M (2.13 GHz)
ATI Radeon 5650 HD - 1GB
4 GB DDR3
500 GB 5400 rpm
15" 1080p


2. CW Series (VPCCW26FG)

Core i5 520M (2.40 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz)
Nvidia GeForce 330M - 512MB
4 GB DDR3
500 GB 5400 rpm
14" 900p


The second one has better processor than the first one but the E Series has a 1GB GPU with a 15" full HD screen as compared to the 512MB 14" CW Series.
However, both of them offer a 5400 rpm disk .

I want to play all the latest high-end games such as Crysis and Dirt 2 etc.

Please suggest which one should I go for? And yeah, I am from India and Sony doesn't provide any customizations here.

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the f orums
The first one is a better choice in gaming because of having a more powerful VGA.
HD 5650M is a mid-range card and can handle those games on medium settings

 

[reachbinnie]

Would the i3 processor be able to handle those games?
Also for a HDD, how much difference does a 5400 rpm vs 7200 rpm makes? Large enough to be felt?
And, are there any heating issues associated with Nvidia 330M?

Adding 2 more Dell Studio 15 laptops to the comparison above:

3. Core i7-720QM (1.6 GHz, turbo boost up to 2.8 GHz, 4 cores)
ATI Radeon HD 4570 - 512MB
4GB DDR3
500GB 7200 rpm
15" 1080p

4. Core i5-520M (2.40 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz)
ATI Radeon HD 5470 - 1GB
4GB DDR3
500GB 7200 rpm
15" 1080p

Please suggest which out of the 4 to go for?

 

[Maziar]

HD 5650M is superior than both 4570 and 5470.
About the 5400RPM vs 7200,well you will notice faster boot/loading times with a 7200 one but you can upgrade it your self later.
Here is review of an Acer laptop with an i5(a little faster than i3 in games) CPU with HD 5650M VGA,
http://anandtech.com/show/3631/acer-aspire-as5740g-6979-budget-priced-gaming

 

[qwerty45]

Where did you find Vaio laptops with a 5650?

 

[reachbinnie]

HD 5650M is superior than both 4570 and 5470.
About the 5400RPM vs 7200,well you will notice faster boot/loading times with a 7200 one but you can upgrade it your self later.
Here is review of an Acer laptop with an i5(a little faster than i3 in games) CPU with HD 5650M VGA,
http://anandtech.com/show/3631/acer-aspire-as5740g-6979-budget-priced-gaming

Thanks Maziar!

@qwerty45: The new Sony Vaio E Series launched in India has a 5650.

Any inputs if a Core i3 (when combined with ATI HD 5650) would be good enough for gaming?

 

[Maziar]

Did you read what i wrote ?
I said the i3 CPU is a little slower than the i5 CPU tested in that review and since most games are CPU limited,then it will be fine

 

[Guest]

u cn't play crysis warhead on first one
take some thing better

 

[combatpro]

u cn't play crysis warhead on first one
take some thing better

he sertainly can play crysis warhead on the first one, even my old pc with a pentium 4 and a 3650 played crysis just fine on 1280x1024 at low, i could even play at medium setting but then it was around 20 fps which wasn't very playable, but on low it went fine.