Intel- i5-540M vs i7-720QM

[We Are Soldiers]

I am in a fix here... Please advise which processor I should go for..

i5-540M vs i7-720QM

 

[M8R]

Core i540 is pretty much 720 without hyperthreading.I own Core i7860 and my cousin own i540..there is not much performance in different because many apps don't utilize the full 8 core ( 4 cores with 720)..depends on your budget really.

 

[We Are Soldiers]

with i7 720qm if only 2 cores are active it will run at a max clock speed of 2.398 GHz, while in i5 540m when 2 cores are active its running at 2.53 GHz

with i7 fully turboboosted and hyperthreaded at 4 cores, it is running at a max of 2.8 GHz, while a similar full automation of i5 540m gives it a clock speed of 3.06 GHz.

Also the i5 is cheaper than i7

 

[We Are Soldiers]

Can someone please answer my query?? I have not recieved any convincing answer..

 

[jha]

go for 8085

 

[rohailmalhi]

wht is ur budget . y do u need the processor , like for the any specific purpose .
or just a home PC

 

[Mrityunjay Rai]

go for 8085

With 10 mb of hard disk
64 kb ram
DOS 2.0

And dont forget a monochrom monitor

 

[Jazzbot]

well it really depends on your budget and mostly at your usage..

Well if you are going to use heavy processor intensive applications at your pc like Adobe Suite, 3ds Max etc then i think you should go for i7 otherwise i5 will fit for your needs and it is cost effective as compared to i7..

actually like you've said above, till 4 cores i5 seems better than i7, but the real power of i7 start somewhere above 4 cores, this is where i5 will start to lapse and i7 will start to show its power and advantage over i5.

But mostly very less applications take that much memory and processing, only softwares like Adobe Suite, 3d Max, After Effects go to this sort of memory consumption while rendering high quality video files..

So in short if you are going to use Adobe suite and other application of this class regularly, then ideally you should go for i7 otherwise i5 will be more than enough..

 

[M8R]

Yeah - Like i said before it really depends on your budget-If you have the money then just go ahead and buy 720 but yeah, if you're on tight budget then go with 540....speed won't be a issue as long as you have a good gpu to complement the processor along with good hard drive.

 

[Cheetah786]

Core i5 processors are far more evolutionary than revolutionary. While these new processors are actually quite a bit different from the Core i7 processors currently available, many features, such as the enhanced turbo boost and dual-channel memory, are shared with new Core i7 processors. The difference between Core i5 and Core i7, then, will be somewhat dependent on which particular Core i7 one is comparing Core i5 to.

Even so, Core i5 is clearly meant to be a more mainstream processor. Those who use their computers for heavily multi-thread applications will miss hyper-threading and the triple-channel memory, which means that a Core i7 on an LGA1366 socket will be best. For most us, however, Core i5 is more cost effective , and quite adequate for our needs.

 

[Indestructible]

I was in the similar situation like you and I opted for i7 720QM. I am a musician and a software engineer. Running multiple VSTi with supportive tools and processing the data at the same time demands i7 8 multi-thread processing. i7 clearly beats i5 in such tests.

There aren't many softwares that can even utilize 4 cores of Core 2 Quad technology. They are still in pipeline. Intel I Core series is just an evolution with more power. If you are just a basic user then I would recommend i5M as it consumes less power thus giving more battery time. If you are an enthusiast or need some real power for your work then you should go with i7.

 

[Peregrine]

Hi
If you are getting a laptop then go for i5

 

[Comet]

Dear Sir,


Get the both of them. Use them one after another. Keep the one you like and send the other one to me.


Thanking you in anticipation,
UmairP

 

[Crypto]

Name               Core i7 720qm                    Core i5 540m
# of Cores                   4                            2
# of threads                 8                            4
Clock Speed	           1.6 GHz   	            2.53 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency        2.8 GHz	            3.066 GHz
Lithography	            45 nm	               32 nm
Max TDP	                    45 W	               35 W
Max Memory Bandwidth	     21 GB/s	              17.1 GB/s
Cache                            6MB                    3MB

------------------------------------------------------------------------

It really depends on the usage and type of softwares you want to run, i7 will be better in multi threaded environment such as Audio / Video encoding, multimedia and you will also be able to multi task better, i5 will give you slightly better response in applications which are not optimized for multi core a very good example will be Games.
i5 is based on newer 32nm core compared to 45nm for i7; i7 will draw more power 45W compared to 35W for i5 so you may get slightly better battery life with i5.

Personally i would go for i7 because it has more cores and more and more applications are now being programmed to take advantage of extra cores. Also i7 has twice the size of cache which will help ......

 

[desiman]

Can someone please answer my query?? I have not recieved any convincing answer..

First of all depends on what you will use your comp for, if you plan to use it for gaming or other heavy applications then get the I7 920 and then overclock it to 3.66. The I5 is the budget model for the I7 and is meant for more casual computing. Its good but will experience more lag with heavier applications because it does not utilize the same amount of core's like the I7. Get an nice X-58 chipset with an I7 920, a strong graphics card like the ATI5870 or GTX 480 and atlast 6gb is tri channel DDR3 1333mhz memory. That should serve you very well for atleast 3-4 years. Go here if you want a more indepth comparison - Core i5 vs. Core i7: Differences Between Intel's i5 and i7 Processors