PC vs Laptop - Why is the Laptop better?

[Lewa 2]

Hi!

I'm new here, so excuse me for my "msitakes" which (hopefully not) i make.

I have a very specific question about my PC Rig. Day-Z is mostly unplayable on it.

But it is confusing why my Laptop is running Day-Z pretty well and my PC doesnt.

PC Hardware:

- Core 2 Quad Q9300 2,5GHz

- 3GB DDR2 Ram

- Geforce 9600 GT 512 MB Ram

- 1 TB 7200 Rpm Harddrive

In the wilderness i mostly get 15-20 FPS.

In Cities mostly 8 to 12 FPS. It just doesn't make fun anymore.

I can't react properly to the given situations in the Game. (I become killed all the time by people and i can't do anything about it. No defending is possible.)

Arma 2 OA and Arma 2 are running on a solid 30 FPS Ramerate on FullHD and Medium Settings.

Day Z however, runs crappy. It doesn't matter if i play on a 800*600 Pixel Resolution or Full-HD. The Framerate is still the same.

I already tried to increase the performance in the config files of Day-Z. All Settings are on minimum and i tried some tricks to improve performance. It mostly doesn't work at all. (Maybe a increase of 5 FPS or less...)

I noticed that the Performacne increases a lot if i join a server with a few people (1-4), but Servers with more than 15 People aren't playable for me.

(I also tried to put me settings on medium and high, because i heard that the graphical calculation is being done by the CPU if the graphic-settings are below medium. It also doesn't work for me at all...)

The Laptop on the other Hand runs the game pretty well. I get around 45 FPS in the wilderness and 30 FPS in towns on a Server with 50 People (with some framerate drops here and there but it is a huge improvement for me.)

The Specs:

- Intel Core I7 CPU 720QM 1,6GHz with Turbo boost up to 2,8 GHz

- Ati Radeon HD 5850 with 1GB DDR3 V-Ram (Hyper Memory up to 1,7GB Ram)

- 4GB DDR3 Ram

- 640 GB Harddrive with 5400 Rpm

Now i'm heavily confused about my issues on my Home PC.

The Graphics are on Minimum, so the Graphics Card can't be the issue. (i can play Arma 2 on a solid framerate so this can't be the issue...)

So i always thought that the CPU may be the bottlneck of my Rig.

But after playing on my Laptop at deccent Framerates (At Medium Settings) i can't believe that this is true.

It is a fact that the Game is a CPU Mosnter. But Arma 2 uses multiple Cores which allows you to split all the calculation an gain some performance.

Now there is the confusing part:

The Core 2 Quad Q9300 with 2,5 GHz in my PC has 4 Cores with the Clockrate of 2,5 GHz.

However, the I7 CPU in my Laptop has 4 Cores with 1,6GHz. It is able to Overclock ONLY ONE Core to 2,8 GHz.

It isn't able to overclock all 4 Cores to 2,8 GHz because of Heat issues. (That is normal in Mobile I5/I7 CPUs)

So The Laptop uses 3 cores with each 1,6GHz and one Core with 2,8 GHz to calculate the Game.

Normally that means that my Laptop is better at Single Threaded Applications, but Multi threaded Programms should be able to run much better on my normal PC.

My Question:

I'm overlooking something? I know that the I7 has a newer architekture and is running much more efficient than my old CPU in my PC, but 4 Cores with each 2,5 GHz should beat a Mobile I7 CPU (with only one Core which can use Tubo boost) in Multi threaded Programms like Arma 2 and especially Day-Z. (The one I7 2,8 GHz Core is infact faster than the one core in the Q9300 with 2,5Ghz, but the rest of the I7 Cores are slower than the of the 2,5GHz Quad core Processor.)

So why is my Laptop 3 Times faster in Arma 2 and Day-Z than my normal PC?

Is Arma 2 Using only 2 Cores (One "heavy" core and one with minor calculations) which may explain the Performance improvements ony my I7 CPU?

Notice that the Laptop and the PC are using the same Internet Connection.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Lewa

[*Exile* Sami 188]

You need to upgrade your dekstop thats why, its crap, (sorry for language) but its true, your laptop is better then your desktop, but know this, desktops are BETTER! so upgrade your desktop.

[Lewa 2]

You need to upgrade your dekstop thats why, its crap, (sorry for language) but its true, your laptop is better then your desktop, but know this, desktops are BETTER! so upgrade your desktop.

This isn't helping my in any way. I know that my PC isn't the best at this time. But it can run most of the Games at a decent Framerate and quality.

I wanted to know/discuss the different Aspects of WHY my Laptop is better than my PC. Why is a I7 Mobile CPU (with a Turbo Boost which affects only one Core) better then my 2,5GHz Quad core CPU of my PC in Multi Threaded Programms/Games like Day-Z?

As i already mentioned, i can't believe that the Graphics card is the issues as i have set all settigns to minimum. (even the resolution doesn't matter for the Performance in this case.) My HDD in my PC is also even faster than the HDD of my Laptop. (Maybe it is the Clockrate of the Ram?)

I'm not a PC-Noob so i kow a little bit about PCs. So comments like "buy a new PC" aren't helping me at all.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Lewa

[Tweakie 199]

PC Hardware:

- Core 2 Quad Q9300 2,5GHz -> fair enough, not good at all...but fair

- 3GB DDR2 Ram -> too little, but just enough for DayZ (you should still have more, in this day and age)

- Geforce 9600 GT 512 MB Ram -> Crap, pure and utter crap, at this point. 100% needs a upgrade, you are basicly wasting money by using this, as you are wasting alot of power(watts) to power something that is underperforming.

- 1 TB 7200 Rpm Harddrive -> meh, fine

And another factor could be the resolution of your Desktop monitor vs your laptop (laptop tend to have smaller resolution).

Or that you have had your Desktop for a long while, and not been able to properly maintain it I.E. Your windows installation is fucked at this point, your fans are filled with dust and not cooling your hardware properly.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Tweakie

[Tweakie 199]

BTW, comparing Ghz is not an effective way of judging your CPU performance anymore....there is alot more too it at this point.

[Lewa 2]

PC Hardware:

- Core 2 Quad Q9300 2,5GHz -> fair enough, not good at all...but fair

- 3GB DDR2 Ram -> too little, but just enough for DayZ (you should still have more, in this day and age)

- Geforce 9600 GT 512 MB Ram -> Crap, pure and utter crap, at this point. 100% needs a upgrade, you are basicly wasting money by using this, as you are wasting alot of power(watts) to power something that is underperforming.

- 1 TB 7200 Rpm Harddrive -> meh, fine

So... you want to say that my GPU is the bottleneck of Day-Z?

How can this by the case? I already tried to set all Graphic Settings to very low, medium and High. It doesn't help at all. As i mentioned before, even the Resolution doesn't affect the Games performance.

So the Problem can't be the Geforce 9600 GT. (in my eyes.) I know it is old, and i know that there should be at leas 4 GB of Ram in a PC nowadays.

(Buying a new Hardware for this outdatet Motherboard isn't worth it) But the GPU should be able to handle Day-Z at least at minimum settings. (it can handle Arma 2 and Arma 2 OA at Full HD and 30 FPS on Minimum-Medium settings.) It is a pretty good GPU for this age.

/Edit:

BTW, comparing Ghz is not an effective way of judging your CPU performance anymore....there is alot more too it at this point.

I know that. But it is pretty weird for me that a I7 Mobile CPU with only one core which can be overlcoked by Turbo Boost can beat a Quad Core on Multi Threaded Applications.

I made tests previously by setting my Laptop to "Power saving" mode. If you set this to power saving, the CPU isn't going to use Turbo boost at all.

The result: the I7 CPU is way slower than my Q9300 CPU in my PC. So i can't believe that a single Core with 2,8 GHz in my I7 CPU can make such a huge differenze in a heavily CPU based game like Day-Z and arma 2.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Lewa

[Tweakie 199]

Putting some of the graphics settings on low, will actually unload them to the CPU....not sure this is what you want to do :P

I know for a FACT, that shadows get offloaded to the CPU, when set below "high"..

BTW, I have a 4x2.5ghz AMD CPU, and in cities with alot of players/server that have been running for a long time, I get crap FPS too.

Your FPS is depended on the server you are playing on, how many players are on the server, how long it has been running...etc

"(Buying a new Hardware for this outdatet Motherboard isn't worth it) But the GPU should be able to handle Day-Z at least at minimum settings. (it can handle Arma 2 and Arma 2 OA at Full HD and 30 FPS on Minimum-Medium settings.) It is a pretty good GPU for this age." - Apple and oranges my dear....the specs for Arma and DayZ cannot be compared, DayZ is more demanding.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Tweakie