游戏笔记本电脑有多种配置。想要获得最佳性能的人倾向于将处理器优先于其他硬件组件，例如视频卡(video card)或存储空间(storage space)。许多游戏玩家更喜欢配备Intel Core i7处理器而不是Intel Core i5的笔记本电脑。许多年前，这个选择是有道理的。但是今天，这是一个好的选择吗？我们对两台游戏笔记本电脑进行了试验，我们了解到，对于游戏而言，购买配备Intel Core i7的系统并不是您可以做出的最佳选择。这就是原因，以及您应该关注的内容：
我们用于测试的笔记本电脑：Lenovo Legion Y520
我们有两台Lenovo Legion Y520 游戏笔记本电脑(gaming laptop)可供测试。Y520是一款经济实惠的游戏(Y520)笔记本电脑(gaming laptop)，具有可靠的制造质量、高效的散热系统、背光键盘和出色的性价比(price-performance ratio)。如果您想了解更多关于这款游戏笔记本电脑(gaming laptop)的信息，它的优点和缺点，我们建议您阅读这篇评论。
我们拥有的笔记本电脑几乎相同，几乎没有差异。为了便于区分，其中一个是红色的，另一个是黑色的。它们都具有 15.6 英寸IPS LED显示屏，全高清分辨率(Full HD resolution)为 1920x1080 像素。
两者都安装了Windows 10 家庭版、(Home)三星(Samsung)制造的 256GB NVMe SSD、Intel Graphics 630板载图形芯片和专用的NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 显卡和 4GB内存(RAM)。它们之间的唯一区别是黑色型号配备英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)处理器和 16GB内存(RAM)，而红色型号配备英特尔酷睿 i5 7300HQ(Intel Core i5 7300HQ)处理器和 8GB内存(RAM)。这两款处理器都是同一个Kaby Lake 系列(Kaby Lake family)的一部分，并且是同时推出的。Core i7提供的一些技术改进在Core i5之上是(Core i5)超线程(Hyper-Threading)的存在，以及仅高出 0.3 GHz的(GHz)基本处理器频率(base processor frequency)。
两台笔记本上的其他一切都是一样的，从无线网卡(wireless network card)到板载声卡(onboard sound card)，蓝牙芯片(Bluetooth chip)等等。因此(Therefore)，大多数驱动程序都是相同的。我们在两台笔记本电脑上安装了Windows 10的最新更新和所有最新驱动程序。然后，我们进行了几次测试和基准测试，以比较两台笔记本电脑。让我们一个一个地进行每个测试(test one)并得出我们的结论：
3DMark 游戏基准测试：英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)与英特尔酷睿 i5 7300HQ(Intel Core i5 7300HQ)相比% improvement
首先，我们使用默认设置运行Futuremark的流行3DMark 游戏基准测试和(3DMark gaming benchmark)Time Spy测试。(Time Spy)搭载英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)处理器的黑色笔记本电脑得分为 2436 分，而搭载英特尔酷睿 i5 7300HQ(Intel Core i5 7300HQ)处理器的红色笔记本电脑得分为 2406 分。这意味着Core i7 7700HQ与Core i5 7300HQ相比，(Core i5 7300HQ)% performance improvement了1% 。
在这个测试过程中产生了小于每秒一帧的差异，这是没有意义的。
古墓丽影：(Tomb Raider)英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)和英特尔酷睿 i5 7300HQ(Intel Core i5 7300HQ)之间提升1 % improvement
接下来，我们用一些游戏来评估两个处理器之间的性能差异。(performance difference)我们从《古墓丽影(Tomb Raider)》开始——即使按照今天的标准来看，它也是一款较老的游戏。我们在两台笔记本电脑上都使用了您在下面看到的设置。
我们注意到Core i7 7700HQ(Core i7 7700HQ)处理器与Core i5 7300HQ相比，平均帧速率(frame rate)略有提高 1 % improvement。
这意味着，在现实生活中，您在玩古墓丽影(Tomb Raider)时不会注意到两个处理器之间的任何性能差异(performance difference)。
Metro Last Light -英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)和酷睿 i5 7300HQ(Core i5 7300HQ)之间没有改进
我们继续进行另一款出色的游戏：Metro: Last Light。这是一款后世界末日的射击游戏，有着许多游戏玩家喜爱的精彩故事。我们在两台笔记本电脑上都使用了您在下面看到的图形设置。
这一次，每秒渲染的平均帧数没有性能差异。(performance difference)
(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)与Intel Core i5 7300HQ相比， (Intel Core i5 7300HQ)Intel Core i7 7700HQ的平均帧速率(frame rate)没有任何改进。
杀手：英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)与酷睿 i5 7300HQ(Core i5 7300HQ)相比提升了7 % improvement
我们转向了一个更新的标题：Hitman - 一款流行的潜行游戏(stealth game)，您在其中扮演雇佣刺客的角色。我们在两台笔记本电脑上都使用了您在下面看到的图形设置。
这一次，我们看到Core i7 7700HQ(Core i7 7700HQ)处理器的平均帧率提高了 7%。(frame rate)
当游戏测量到最大帧速率(frame rate)时，我们发现Intel Core i5 7300HQ设法多提供一帧，这很有趣。
启动时间：英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)和酷睿 i5 7300HQ之间没有改善(Core i5 7300HQ)
玩游戏就够了。让我们看看其他对游戏玩家很重要的事情。例如，我们都希望我们的 PC 尽快启动。因此，我们使用Bootracer来测量两台笔记本电脑的平均启动时间。令我们惊讶的是，配备Intel Core i5 7300HQ的笔记本电脑的启动速度平均比配备Intel Core i7 7700HQ的笔记本电脑快 2 秒。
我认为从这个测试中可以清楚地看出，处理器并不是影响系统启动时间(boot time)的主要因素。由于驱动程序加载时间稍长，很可能配备Intel Core i7 7700HQ的笔记本电脑启动速度较慢。
电池使用时间(Battery time)：使用英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)与英特尔酷睿 i5 7300HQ相比，续航时间减少 30%(Intel Core i5 7300HQ)
另一个重要指标是您从游戏笔记本电脑中获得的自主权。我们将Windows 10设置为默认使用NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 显卡，而不是Intel Graphics 630芯片，并且我们运行了PowerMark以及包括视频和游戏工作负载的娱乐测试。(Entertainment)配备英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)的笔记本电脑的使用寿命比配备英特尔酷睿 i5 7300HQ(Intel Core i5 7300HQ)的笔记本电脑少得多：如果您想将差异转换为百分比，则减少 34 分钟或减少 30%。
如果你看重自主(value autonomy)性，很明显英特尔酷睿 i5 7300HQ(Intel Core i5 7300HQ)是比英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)更好的选择。
PCMark 10 ：使用Intel Core i7 7700HQ与Intel Core i5 7300HQ相比提高14 % improvement
一些游戏玩家还可以在他们的游戏笔记本电脑上执行其他活动。诸如视频会议(video conferencing)、照片编辑(photo editing)、视频编辑(video editing)、创建文档等。为了评估两种处理器之间的差异，对于此类活动，我们使用了Futuremark的(Futuremark)PCMark 10 基准测试(PCMark 10 benchmark)。这一次，与Intel Core i5 7300HQ相比， (Intel Core i5 7300HQ)Intel Core i7 7700HQ的平均得分提高了 14 % improvement。
我们与PCMark 10的比较表明，使用英特尔酷睿 i7 7700HQ处理器在执行(Intel Core i7 7700HQ)办公室工作(office work)等非游戏活动时比在游戏时提供更多价值。
为什么英特尔酷睿 i7(Intel Core i7)无法在游戏中提供有意义的改进？
Intel Core i7 7700HQ和Intel Core i5 7300HQ处理器之间的主要区别在于Intel Core i7处理器包括超线程(Hyper-Threading)。该技术为每个物理内核提供两个处理线程，这意味着应用程序可以并行完成更多工作，通过使用八个并行处理线程而不是四个物理处理器内核(processor core)来更快地完成任务。不幸的是，游戏往往不会利用这项技术。当它们确实使用多个处理器内核(processor core)时，它们不会使用更多的处理线程，而只是使用物理内核。因此，游戏使用英特尔酷睿 i7(Intel Core i7)上相同的四个处理器核心(processor core)和酷睿 i5(Core i5)。它们不使用英特尔酷睿 i7(Intel Core i7)上可用的八个处理线程。因此，游戏只能受益于酷睿 i7可能比(Core i7)酷睿 i5(Core i5)提供的处理器基本频率(base frequency)的轻微增加。但是，在大多数情况下，这个基频差异(base frequency difference)可能太小，并且不会提供有意义的改进。
结论：如果您是游戏玩家，请购买配备Intel Core i5处理器和更好显卡的笔记本电脑(video card)
我们的测试表明，购买同一台配备Intel Core i7处理器而不是Intel Core i5的(Intel Core i5)游戏笔记本电脑(gaming laptop)不会为游戏玩家带来额外的价值。如果您想在笔记本电脑上玩游戏，将钱投资在其他地方是更好的选择：
- 与其购买配备NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050显卡的笔记本电脑，不如购买配备NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti(Ti video)显卡的笔记本电脑。与购买Intel Core i7(Intel Core i7)而不是Intel Core i5处理器相比，游戏中的性能差异要明显得多。
- 如果您有能力从NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 显卡升级到NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060，性能飞跃(performance leap)会更高。此外，您还可以享受高质量的 VR 体验，而不仅仅是传统游戏。英特尔酷睿 i7(Intel Core i7)没有提供同样的改进。
- 如果您升级存储并获得SSD而不是HDD ，那么无论是在玩游戏还是在使用生产力应用程序(productivity apps)时，您都将享受到显着的速度提升(impact speed improvement)。我们已经看到许多配备Intel Core i7处理器和经典HDD 存储(HDD storage)的笔记本电脑出售。您在Intel Core i7上浪费了您的钱，因为HDD会降低系统的速度和性能(speed and performance)。对于游戏和生产力，拥有SSD 驱动器(SSD drive)是必须的。
英特尔酷睿 i7(Intel Core i7)何时是一项好的投资？正如PCMark 10基准测试所示，当您的目标是生产力、(PCMark 10)视频编辑(video editing)、虚拟化和其他面向业务的任务时，这款处理器值得购买。对于家庭娱乐(home entertainment)，给自己买一个英特尔酷睿 i5处理器，并在(Intel Core i5)显卡(video card)和存储速度上投入更多。
你同意我们的结论吗？
我们希望您发现我们的实验很有用，并且您同意我们的结论。在结束本文之前，请分享您对此主题的看法。您更喜欢英特尔酷睿 i7(Intel Core i7)处理器来玩游戏吗？您打算在视频卡上投入更多资金吗？在下面发表评论(Comment)，让我们讨论。
When buying a gaming laptop or mini PC, get one with a better video card, not an Intel Core i7 processor
Gaming laptoрs come in a variety of configurations. People who want the best performance, tеnd to prioritize the procesѕor over other hardware components, like the video card or the storage space. Many gamers prefer a laptop with an Intel Core і7 processors instead of an Intel Core i5. Mаny years аgo, this choіce madе sense. But todаy, is this a good choice? We experimentеd with two gaming laptops, and we have learned that, for gaming, buying a systеm with Intel Core i7 is not the best choice yоu can make. Here's why, and what you should focus on instead:
The laptops that we used for testing: Lenovo Legion Y520
We had two Lenovo Legion Y520 gaming laptops available for testing. The Y520 is an affordable gaming laptop, with reliable build quality, efficient cooling system, backlit keyboard, and excellent price-performance ratio. If you want to know more about this gaming laptop, its strengths, and weaknesses, we recommend that you read this review.
The laptops we had are almost identical, with very few differences. To make it easy to tell them apart, one of them is red while the other is black. Both of them have 15.6" IPS LED displays with a Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
Both come with Windows 10 Home installed, a 256GB NVMe SSD manufactured by Samsung, an Intel Graphics 630 onboard graphics chip and a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti video card, with 4GB of RAM. The only differences between them are that the black model has an Intel Core i7 7700HQ processor and 16GB of RAM, while the red model has an Intel Core i5 7300HQ processor and 8GB of RAM. Both processors are part of the same Kaby Lake family and were launched at the same time. The few technical improvements offered by the Core i7 over the Core i5 are the presence of Hyper-Threading, and a base processor frequency that is only 0.3 GHz higher.
Everything else on both laptops is the same, from the wireless network card to the onboard sound card, the Bluetooth chip, and so on. Therefore, most drivers are the same. We installed the latest updates for Windows 10 and all the latest drivers on both laptops. Then, we ran several tests and benchmarks, to compare the two laptops. Let's take each test one by one and draw our conclusions:
3DMark gaming benchmark: 1% improvement with Intel Core i7 7700HQ compared to Intel Core i5 7300HQ
First, we ran the popular 3DMark gaming benchmark from Futuremark, and the Time Spy test, with its default settings. The black laptop with the Intel Core i7 7700HQ processor had a score of 2436 points, while the red one with Intel Core i5 7300HQ had a score of 2406 points. This translates into a minor 1% performance improvement provided by the Core i7 7700HQ vs. Core i5 7300HQ.
There was a difference of less than one frame per second generated during this test, which is meaningless.
Tomb Raider: 1% improvement between Intel Core i7 7700HQ and Intel Core i5 7300HQ
Next, we used some games to evaluate the performance difference between the two processors. We started with Tomb Raider - an older title that looks great even by today's standards. We used the settings that you see below, on both laptops.
We noticed a minor 1% improvement in the average frame rate, provided by the Core i7 7700HQ processor vs. the Core i5 7300HQ.
This means that, in real life, you will not notice any performance difference between the two processors, when playing Tomb Raider.
Metro Last Light - no improvement between Intel Core i7 7700HQ and Core i5 7300HQ
We moved on to another great game: Metro: Last Light. This is a post-apocalyptic shooter with a great story that many gamers love. We used the graphics settings that you see below, on both laptops.
This time, there was no performance difference in the average number of frames per second that were rendered.
Intel Core i7 7700HQ did not manage to deliver any improvement in the average frame rate, versus Intel Core i5 7300HQ.
Hitman: 7% improvement between Intel Core i7 7700HQ vs. Core i5 7300HQ
We moved on to a newer title: Hitman - a popular stealth game in which you play the role of an assassin-for-hire. We used the graphics settings that you see below, on both laptops.
This time, we saw an improvement of 7% in the average frame rate, delivered by the Core i7 7700HQ processor.
We found it funny that the Intel Core i5 7300HQ managed to deliver one frame more when the game measured the maximum frame rate.
Boot time: no improvement between Intel Core i7 7700HQ and Core i5 7300HQ
Enough about gaming. Let's see other things that are important to a gamer. For example, we all want our PCs to boot as fast as possible. So we used Bootracer to measure the average boot time on both laptops. We found it surprising that the laptop with Intel Core i5 7300HQ managed to start, on average, two seconds faster than the one with Intel Core i7 7700HQ.
I think that it is clear from this test that the processor is not the primary factor in how fast your system's boot time is. Most probably the laptop with Intel Core i7 7700HQ booted slower because of a driver that took slightly longer to load.
Battery time: 30% less autonomy when using the Intel Core i7 7700HQ vs. Intel Core i5 7300HQ
Another important metric is the autonomy you get from your gaming laptop. We set Windows 10 to use the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti video card as the default, instead of the Intel Graphics 630 chip, and we ran PowerMark, and the Entertainment test that includes video and gaming workloads. The laptop with Intel Core i7 7700HQ lasted a lot less than the one with Intel Core i5 7300HQ: 34 minutes less or 30% less, if you want to convert the difference into percentages.
If you value autonomy, it is clear that Intel Core i5 7300HQ is a better choice than Intel Core i7 7700HQ.
PCMark 10: 14% improvement when using the Intel Core i7 7700HQ vs. Intel Core i5 7300HQ
Some gamers may also perform other activities on their gaming laptops. Things like video conferencing, photo editing, video editing, creating documents, and so on. To evaluate the difference between the two processors, for this type of activities, we used the PCMark 10 benchmark from Futuremark. This time, Intel Core i7 7700HQ delivered a 14% improvement in the average score, when compared to Intel Core i5 7300HQ.
Our comparison with PCMark 10 shows that using an Intel Core i7 7700HQ processor delivers more value when performing non-gaming activities, like office work, than when gaming.
Why isn't Intel Core i7 able to deliver meaningful improvement in games?
The main difference between the Intel Core i7 7700HQ and Intel Core i5 7300HQ processors is that the Intel Core i7 processor includes Hyper-Threading. This technology offers two processing threads per physical core, meaning that apps can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner, by using eight processing threads in parallel, instead of four physical processor cores. Unfortunately, games tend not to take advantage of this technology. When they do use more than one processor core, they do not use more processing threads, just the physical cores. Therefore, games use the same four processor cores on the Intel Core i7 and the Core i5. They do not use the eight processing threads available on the Intel Core i7. As a result, games only benefit from the slight increase in the processor's base frequency that the Core i7 may provide over the Core i5. However, this base frequency difference may be too small in most cases, and it does not provide meaningful improvements.
Conclusion: if you are a gamer, buy a laptop with an Intel Core i5 processor and a better video card
Our tests have shown that purchasing the same gaming laptop with an Intel Core i7 processor instead of an Intel Core i5 does not deliver additional value for gamers. If you want to play games on your laptop, it is a better choice to invest your money elsewhere:
- Instead of a laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card, buy one with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti video card. The difference in performance is a lot more noticeable in games than when buying an Intel Core i7 instead of an Intel Core i5 processor.
- If you can afford to upgrade from an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti video card to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, the performance leap will be even higher. Also, you get to enjoy high-quality VR experiences, not only traditional gaming. The Intel Core i7 does not deliver the same improvement.
- If you upgrade the storage and get an SSD instead of an HDD, you will enjoy a high impact speed improvement, both when gaming and when using productivity apps. We have seen many laptops sold with an Intel Core i7 processor and classic HDD storage. You are wasting your money on the Intel Core i7 because the HDD drags down the speed and performance of the system. For gaming, as well as productivity, having an SSD drive is a must.
When is the Intel Core i7 a good investment? As the PCMark 10 benchmark has shown, this processor is worth buying when your goal is productivity, video editing, virtualization, and other business-oriented tasks. For home entertainment, get yourself an Intel Core i5 processor and invest more in the video card and the speed of your storage.
Do you agree with our conclusion?
We hope that you have found our experiment useful and that you agree with our conclusions. Before closing this article, share your view on this subject. Do you prefer an Intel Core i7 processor for gaming? Do you plan to invest more into your video card? Comment below and let's discuss.
