[fsphiladelphia]

After a bit of research, I'm closing in on a laptop purchase.  The GPU will be a 1GB Radeon 5650.

The processor will most likely be either the i3-370M (2,4 GHz, 3MB L3, 2 Cores) or the i5-460M (2.53 GHz, 3MB L3, 2 Cores, turbo 2.8GHz).

From what I can gather, the only difference is in raw clock speed and the fact that the i5 has turbo boost.  I've read that the i5's run cooler due to turbo boost, as well.

Both setups would be running at a native res of 1366x768.  My thinking is that at that resolution, either setup should be able to run SCP on high/max settings.  Is this a correct assumption?  Would the i3 be a risky proposition given possible throttling issues?

I've read a ton about both of these processor/gpu combos, but now I'm asking with SCP in mind specifically.  Any insight would be appreciated.

[The E]

There won't be any issues.

[fsphiladelphia]

Thanks for the reply - so your opinion is that, paired with the 5650, both the i3 and the i5 will handle the scp stuff just fine at that resoluation?

Has anyone out there had any experience with the i3 in a notebook?  Any heat/throttling issues?  Apparently it'll throttle around 86C as opposed to 105C for the i5.  Will scp simply not push the processor hard enough to even remotely worry about temps like that?

[Kolgena]

I think the i3 CPU might bottleneck for more modern games, but I'm guessing that it should be fine for SCP. My C2D 2.4 GHz handles the game on 1080p fine (unless Karunas come and crash my scene), and your GPU's way better than mine to boot.

[fsphiladelphia]

Has anyone out there had any experience with the i3 in a notebook?  Any heat/throttling issues?  Apparently it'll throttle around 86C as opposed to 105C for the i5.  Will scp simply not push the processor hard enough to even remotely worry about temps like that?

Bump - anyone?

[fsphiladelphia]

FWIW, I just purchased an Acer 3820tg with 4gb ram, an i3-370m and a Mobility Radeon 5650.  After I receive the unit and get a chance to get FSO installed and running, I'll report back so everyone knows how such a rig handles the game.  Here's to hoping it'll blow through whatever FSO can throw at it.