Performance data on Intel "T" CPUs?

[Onus]

I'm trying to locate some performance data (and opinions) that will indicate the viability of the 35W "T" series i3 and/or Pentium chips for games. I have a trucker friend for whom I may be building a rig that will have a 300W-400W max power budget due to inverter limitations. He's also on a tight dollar budget, so a decent laptop is out. His primary use is MMORPGs like Guild Wars and GW2, but also other games (he'd probably like Skyrim). Up to thirty watts may not seem like much, but it's another tier or two higher on the GPU hierarchy chart. Google has not been very friendly, providing little more that a couple of Passmark tables. When in his truck, he'd probably use a smaller monitor (e.g. 1440x900), but would use this same PC at home, at 1920x1080. I can readily fit a HD6770 into both budgets (W and $$), but would like to see if I can squeeze in a HD6850.
Thanks for any data and/or insight you can provide.

 

[Blandge]

I think you should tell your friend not to play video games while driving an 18 wheeler.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

The Intel® Core™ processors with the "T" are designed for a thin/small form factor chassis. They would perform just like the normal version of these processor at the lower clock speed that they are listed with. So the Intel Core i3-2100T has a listed clock speed of 2.5GHz and would perform like close in the performance to that of the Intel Pentium® G620 but at almost half the TDP of it. Here is a list of all of the "T" processors http://ark.intel.com/compare/53423,53427,53448,52212

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[esrever]

I suggest a laptop with a A6 or A8 which will do all what you proposed. Not sure how you will fit all that in a budget and have the monitors ect.

But the t series are decent, the performance is pretty much like a i5 mobile cpu.

 

[Onus]

Thank you Christian, your answer was useful. I may have more luck finding performance data on the G620.
Incidentally, total size is yet another limitation on this build; even a PC-Q08 might be a little big, so I'd be looking at a slim (i.e. low profile) or shoebox style case, using a Seasonic or FSP 300W 80+ bronze PSU.

 

[Onus]

Nope, the laptop won't fit in the budget, and we would both have concerns about durability. He had a laptop, which recently died the final death, although it had given him a lot of trouble during the year or two he had it; this system would be to replace it.

 

[HEXiT]

your kidding rite? you want to put an eco cpu in a pc with a high end gfx card...
you cant have your cake and eat it m8... you either buy an eco cpu and put in an eco build, or buy a proper cpu and get your game on...
the chances are the eco cpu will bottleneck anything over midrange because its just not made for gaming, its made for reduced power consumption and gaming is the second or third most power hungry thing you can do with a pc.

seriously m8 reconsider because you will only end up disappointed.
even if you do decide to go for a biger gfx card theres no way it will run off a 300w psu, it just wont provide the amps needed...
i think your gonna be looking at a mobility radeon to keep the numbers down and the end result will still be a poor gaming experience...

 

[HEXiT]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500t-2390t-i3-2100t-pentium-g620t.html some benches,,, and there not great... with the onboard gfx they struggle to get playable fps. even if you add in a 75w max gfx card which will be pretty much all you will be able to put in, you wont get much more that you already did...

 

[Onus]

I want to build the best gaming PC possible with a 300W power budget. Guild Wars can be maxed at 1920x1080p on a mere HD6670; we know that's not true of new games. Depending on space available in the case, it looks like up to a HD6850 could physically fit, but the power constraints mean i3-2120+HD6770 OR i3-2120T+HD6850. I'm trying to figure which will make the better gaming rig.

 

[esrever]

300w can fit a i5+6870 no problem

 

[Onus]

Not quite; the PSU calculator at http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine shows 339W, and that's not accounting for capacitor aging. Those particular PSUs could probably handle it, but would be running uncomfortably at the edge.

 

[HEXiT]

i got over 300w 2 with 2 sticks of ram 1 120mm fan 1 hdd 1dvd cpu and gpu.. i think by the time you add the motherboard wattage you would be closer to 350w total...
if your gaming on the move then theres no real need to have a huge gfx card. may as well go for a lower power unit that can max out a 1440/900 display rather than a 1080p display... 300 is your limit as you say, then you are gonna struggle to find parts that consistently use less.
shame you cant afford a gaming grade lappy as that would be the ideal for you.

also your gonna have to add the wattage for the monitor to your calcs if your powering it from inside the cab you will have an absolute maximum. most current monitors use between 25 and 40w for back lit bulb 1s i thing the led 1s use slightly less power...

 

[Onus]

He had a gaming laptop (9600M) but it had major overheating problems, and after being repaired a couple of times, finally gave up the ghost completely.
His inverter I believe is rated for continuous 400W (it's a true sine-wave), and yes, needs to power the monitor as well, making the 300W PSU in the PC right on the edge (allowing for efficiency losses).
Since he plays mostly MMOs and a few RPGs, but not shooters, I am leaning toward a weaker GPU than might be needed in a typical gamer, to allow for a stronger CPU. Still, the recent sub-$200 CPU article showed that a G620 can handle Skyrim, so an i3-2120T should also be able to do so. I'll have to find out if he can make room for something as big as a SUGO-SG05, because that will take a double-slot GPU; the price isn't much more than an Apex MI-100 plus a decent PSU.

 

[Onus]

Best answer selected by jtt283.

 

[Onus]

My decisions aren't finalized yet; the friend has changed jobs to one that will have him driving locally, so he will be home every night instead of a few days out of the month. I may still build this PC as an experiment, but I'll start another thread if I decide to do so.
Christian, your comments gave me the best ideas of scaling, and therefor pointed me at other potentially useful data points, so I thought that deserved Best Answer. Thanks to all who contributed.