• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Ram + GPU vs SSD? Advice needed...

SunnyK

New Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2015
Messages
6 (0.00/day)
The laptops I am considering all have the same processor but have the following differences
(a) 1TB HD 5400rpm with 8GB SSD cache (Hybrid drive), 16GB RAM and 960M with 4GB
(b) 1TB HD 7200rpm, 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM and 860M with 2GB (possibly Kepler)

Which would provide better overall performance for:

- gaming
- photo & video editing
- surfing, Email, MS Office
- mulitple applications open at the same time?

EDIT:
MSI GS60 2PC(Ghost 3K)-287UK
  • Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ Quad Core Processor
  • 15.6" 3K WQHD+ Screen
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
  • 8GB DDR3 RAM
  • 128GB SSD + 1000GB HDD
  • Dedicated GTX 860M 2GB Graphics
  • USB3 | HDMI | Bluetooth | DisplayPort
  • Steelseries Backlit Keyboard
  • Includes 2 Year MSI Warranty
  • Includes MSI Protection Bag
I have seen on some forums that MSI use Kepler architecture for the GPU rather than Maxwell.
Lenovo Y50
  • Intel® Core™ i7-4720HQ Quad Core Processor
  • 15.6" Full HD Screen
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
  • 16GB DDR3 RAM
  • 8GB SSD + 1000GB Hybrid HDD
  • DVD Rewriter
  • Dedicated GeForce GTX 960M 4GB Graphics
  • USB3 | HDMI | Bluetooth
  • Backlit Keyboard
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
17,640 (2.65/day)
System Name AlderLake / Laptop
Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s) 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s) Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
The laptops I am considering all have the same processor but have the following differences
(a) 1TB HD 5400rpm with 8GB SSD cache (Hybrid drive), 16GB RAM and 960M with 4GB
(b) 1TB HD 7200rpm, 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM

Which would provide better overall performance for:

- gaming
- photo & video editing
- surfing, Email, MS Office
- mulitple applications open at the same time?

A GTX960M is just a bit better than a HD4870 with gaming, do not expect gaming in very high settings.
Does option b come with GTX960M as well? If so I would pick b.
Better yet, save some more money for a laptop with a GTX970M
 
Joined
May 15, 2015
Messages
105 (0.03/day)
Location
The land of maple syrup
System Name not done yet
Processor I5 10400
Motherboard msi h410 pro
Cooling 212 evo, 5x 120mm
Memory patriot viper 2666 ddr4
Video Card(s) xfx rx570
Storage 500gb crucial p5 m2 , 525gb crucial mx300, 3.5 7200 seagate barricuda 2tb
Display(s) 42" 120hz 3d led LG
Case rosewill line
Audio Device(s) onboard realtech 5.1 (yamah rxv373, jamo speakers)
Power Supply thermaltake gx2 600w gold
Mouse logitech m510
Keyboard microsoft
Software windows 10
Benchmark Scores 1410 in un heaven, not useless yet
It would help if you provided the full specs of both laptops. If option
(b) has no dedicated videocard and is priced similarly to option (a), option (a) is the better choice, though you should replace the hybrid drive with an ssd and maybe repurpose the 5400hdd with an external dock. A 5400hdd will slow down your photo and video editing considerably.
 

SunnyK

New Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2015
Messages
6 (0.00/day)
It would help if you provided the full specs of both laptops. If option
(b) has no dedicated videocard and is priced similarly to option (a), option (a) is the better choice, though you should replace the hybrid drive with an ssd and maybe repurpose the 5400hdd with an external dock. A 5400hdd will slow down your photo and video editing considerably.
Specs added above. Thanks
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
17,640 (2.65/day)
System Name AlderLake / Laptop
Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s) 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s) Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
Then I would go for the MSI, but as I said if you can save up some more money you could buy a laptop with a GTX970M!
 
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Messages
13,210 (3.84/day)
Location
Sunshine Coast
System Name Black Box
Processor Intel Xeon E3-1260L v5
Motherboard MSI E3 KRAIT Gaming v5
Cooling Tt tower + 120mm Tt fan
Memory G.Skill 16GB 3600 C18
Video Card(s) Asus GTX 970 Mini
Storage Kingston A2000 512Gb NVME
Display(s) AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Case Corsair 450D High Air Flow.
Audio Device(s) No need.
Power Supply FSP Aurum 650W
Mouse Yes
Keyboard Of course
Software W10 Pro 64 bit
The Lenovo is the better choice, clearly.
It has a faster CPU, GPU and more Ram.
The MSI has an SSD which will only speed up load times, not general use, it also has a 3K screen which the 860m cannot fully utilize.
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
17,640 (2.65/day)
System Name AlderLake / Laptop
Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s) 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s) Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
The Lenovo is the better choice, clearly.
It has a faster CPU, GPU and more Ram.
The MSI has an SSD which will only speed up load times, not general use, it also has a 3K screen which the 860m cannot fully utilize.

Oh did not see that 3K screen, you are right!
He can better save up money for a laptop with a GTX970M!
 

SunnyK

New Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2015
Messages
6 (0.00/day)
Oh did not see that 3K screen, you are right!
He can better save up money for a laptop with a GTX970M!
Right now I found the lenovo for £800 and the MSI for £850.
The GS60 is the most portable which is a bonus.

Would it be worth it to spend more money for 870M/970M:

MSI GS60 2PE(Ghost Pro)-223UK - £1000
  • Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ Quad Core Processor
  • 15.6" Full HD Screen
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
  • 8GB DDR3 RAM
  • 2x 128GB SSD Super Raid2 + 1000GB HDD
  • Dedicated GTX 870M 3GB Graphics
  • USB3 | HDMI | Bluetooth
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • 2 Year Warranty
  • 1.89 kg
  • Includes SteelSeries Siberia V2 Gaming Headset & MSI Interceptor Mouse

ASUS G750JS-T4069H - £1000
  • Intel® Core™ i7-4700HQ Quad Core Processor
  • 17.3" Full HD Screen
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
  • 12GB DDR3 RAM
  • 256GB SSD + 750GB HDD
  • Blu-Ray
  • Dedicated GTX 870M 3GB Graphics
  • USB3 | HDMI | Bluetooth
  • 2 Year ASUS Warranty
  • 4.6 kg

Gigabyte P25W V2-CF2 - £1000
  • Intel® Core™ i7-4810MQ Quad Core Processor
  • 15.6" Full HD Screen
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
  • 16GB DDR3 RAM
  • 1000GB HDD
  • DVD Rewriter
  • Dedicated GTX 870M Graphics
  • USB3 | HDMI | Bluetooth
  • 2 Year Gigabyte Warranty
  • 2.82 kg
  • Includes Port Designs Gaming Backpack worth £39
  • Exclusive Upgraded To 16GB!
MSI GT70 2QD(Dominator)-2458UK - £1100
  • Intel® Core™ i7-4710MQ Quad Core Processor
  • 17.3" Full HD Screen
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
  • 16GB DDR3 RAM
  • 1000GB HDD
  • DVD Rewriter
  • Dedicated GeForce GTX 970M 3GB Graphics
  • USB3 | HDMI | DisplayPort | Bluetooth
  • SteelSeries Backlit Keyboard
  • 2 Year MSI Warranty
  • 3.86 kg
  • Exclusive Upgraded to 16Gb Ram!
MSI GS60 2QE (Ghost Pro)-247UK - £1210
  • Intel® Core™ i7-4720HQ Quad Core Processor
  • 15.6" Full HD Screen
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
  • 8GB DDR3 RAM
  • 128GB SSD + 1000GB HDD
  • Dedicated GeForce GTX 970M 3GB Graphics
  • USB3 | HDMI | DisplayPort | Bluetooth
  • 2 Year Warranty
  • 1.89 kg
  • Includes MSI Protection Bag
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
17,640 (2.65/day)
System Name AlderLake / Laptop
Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s) 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s) Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
I would go for an Asus ROG laptop, preferably with a GTX970M, http://www.asus.com/us/site/g-series/G751/.
I own one myself (with GTX770M) and Asus ROG laptops have superior cooling, better than most MSI laptop.
The GTX970M is more powerful than a GTX870M...

Compare them yourself:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-870M.107792.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-970M.126694.0.html

Edit: I don't know what games you play, but at the links above you can see what fps to expect in a variety of games, check it out, a GTX870M may be good enough for the games you are playing
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
17,640 (2.65/day)
System Name AlderLake / Laptop
Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s) 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s) Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
So for you the 870m (£200 extra) and 970m (£400 extra) would be worth the price jump?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I don't know what games you are playing, but check out the performance of these cards:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-960M.138006.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-870M.107792.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-970M.126694.0.html

Maybe a GTX960M or a GTX870M is powerful enough for you.
Personally if I was buying a new gaming laptop now I would probably buy a Asus G751 ROG laptop with a GTX970M.

At the moment I'm still happy with my Asus G750JX with GTX770M, not getting 60fps in all games I have but most of my games are still playable at high/very high with decent fps.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Messages
5,640 (1.16/day)
System Name Space Station
Processor Intel 13700K
Motherboard ASRock Z790 PG Riptide
Cooling Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420
Memory Corsair Vengeance 6400 2x16GB @ CL34
Video Card(s) PNY RTX 4080
Storage SSDs - Nextorage 4TB, Samsung EVO 970 500GB, Plextor M5Pro 128GB, HDDs - WD Black 6TB, 2x 1TB
Display(s) LG C3 OLED 42"
Case Corsair 7000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V371
Power Supply SeaSonic Vertex 1200w Gold
Mouse Razer Basilisk V3
Keyboard Bloody B840-LK
Software Windows 11 Pro 23H2
Top