back to article Nvidia's screaming new Maxwell GPUs bring 4K gaming to notebooks

Nvidia took wraps off the latest in its line of dedicated notebook GPUs on Tuesday, ones it says can deliver near-desktop performance in a portable form factor. Like some of the earlier GeForce 800M series, the new GeForce GTX 970M and GeForce GTX 980M cards are based on Nvidia's Maxwell architecture. But while Maxwell was …

  1. Vector

    What ... you mean your notebook doesn't have a 4K screen?

    Naw...that'll be in next month's model.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What ... you mean your notebook doesn't have a 4K screen?

      I'd be happy with a full 1080p screen in a notebook ... 1376x768 is still all too common ...

      1. h3

        Re: What ... you mean your notebook doesn't have a 4K screen?

        Even that is not that good for normal use. Sucks the premium that 1920x1200 costs. (Or other 16:10).

    2. Dazed and Confused

      Re: What ... you mean your notebook doesn't have a 4K screen?

      > Naw...that'll be in next month's model.

      10 years ago laptop screens were 1920x1200, then they were upgraded to 1920,1080 and many were further enhanced to be NotMuchx768. Next years laptops will be so enhanced as to be 2x1 pixel displays.

      Me?

      I'd love a laptop with 4K support, even if it had a 1920x1200 laptop display (actually I've given up hope of anyone making anything better than crappy "Full HD") but with support of external 4K monitors. And I don't even want to be able to play games on them, I just a pixel junky.

      1. Vector

        Re: What ... you mean your notebook doesn't have a 4K screen?

        "10 years ago laptop screens were 1920x1200..."

        Yeah, sorry, I guess I was thinking of next month's phone!

        ...and I don't quite get that: most of the phablets coming out are already at QHD (on a 5.5 inch screen, no less), yet you have to pay a premium just to get FHD on a laptop.

    3. Frank Oz

      Re: What ... you mean your notebook doesn't have a 4K screen?

      Right.

      And I'd put serious money on both cards being offered as options for the new iMacs that Apple is expected to release 'real soon now' ... and they do have 2500 dpi screens.

      With 80% of the power of their big brother's at about 33% of the power cost Apple's gotta be looking at putting these puppies in their iMacs.

  2. phil dude

    pcie?

    any chance these can be stuck on pcie cards for lower power MD acceleration?

    The monsters cards are only 20% faster but take >200W!!!!

    P.

    1. Bush_rat

      Re: pcie?

      The full desktop 980 "only" draws 175W at full load. But I do agree, it would be nice for them to also offer their mobile chips in standard PCI-E cards. Who knows, maybe even in single-slot variants too.

    2. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: pcie?

      I think the marketing department might have found that 20% figure in the engineering department's toilet. Compared to the desktop 980, the 980M has 25% fewer resources to start with, before considering the lower clock (~10%) and memory bandwidth (~30%).

      They are still noticeably more efficient than the desktop part though.

  3. Mondo the Magnificent
    Childcatcher

    What about the battery?

    Good stuff indeed, but Nvidia have been fairly coy on just how much power these screamin' GPU's will use.

    Sure a gamer will usually use the power adapter when gaming , but in the 'unlikely case' of gaming sans power adapter, how would these compare to Nviadia's previous GPUs?

    I assume the vendors will have the laptops use the Core i built in GPU for 'normal' Windows use

    It seems as if the laptop tiptoes a little closer to the desktop in all round performance..

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: What about the battery?

      Just look for a triphase socket in the airport lounge.

    2. Bush_rat

      Re: What about the battery?

      I can't remember where I read it (Arstechnica maybe?) but NVidia did talk about battery life in relation to Battery Boost 2.0. With a 90WH battery and a 980M (about what the higher end Macbook Pros have) you will get about 45 minutes of unadulterated Tomb Raider with 1080p@70fps. If you turn Battery Boost on and set a frame cap however (30fps in the example) they were getting "2 hours or more as a conservative estimate" with the same settings and resolution doing the benchmark.

      So no it's still not great, but considering that is their most powerful chip doing high end desktop-class work entirely on battery, even an hour is impressive for the same batteries we have right now.

    3. P. Lee

      Re: What about the battery?

      Not too fussed about the battery life if it can switch to a non-gaming mode an last for 10 hours. Actually, I'd like something that runs silent on my desktop.

      I suspect its a bad idea to game with this thing nestled on your duvet.

      If they've got something which can beat my 680 in a laptop, I'll be impressed and envious.

  4. NeilPost Silver badge

    1023x768

    Until manufacturers stop shoving shite screens with1366x768 resolution as bog standard in laptops, this will be an irrelevance.

    1440x900 should be a base standard, if not aspiring to 1080p. 1080p has been largely the default standard in 95%+ of TV's for years, but entry level laptops have barely moved on in 5 years display resolution-wise.

    1. Spoonsinger
      Coat

      Re: 1023x768

      I think you are missing a column. Maybe send it back :-)

  5. gary27
    Facepalm

    Duhh - Displayport

    Have you not heard - most high end laptops have a thunderbolt or displayport output !!

    I have been using for years - they are brilliant for connecting to quality screens - much better than low-res flaky hdmi.

    Of course they require a good gpu to drive them - duhh !

    And many of us do travel aswell - so desktop not practical - but we do of course, prefer a huge hi-res screen when at home on in office.

  6. pyite

    Where do you find a laptop with NVidia?

    Is it possible to get an NVidia laptop these days? I have only seen Intel for the last couple of years.

  7. DerekCurrie
    Facepalm

    So anyone cares about 4K gaming Because WHY?!

    4K televisions are themselves a ridiculous concept, unless you're stinking rich and project movies onto an over-large screen for your multitude of party guests.

    4K and 8K are specifically PROFESSIONAL resolutions used for making projected movies. That's it. That's what they're for. No consumer should care a rat's about 4K, ever.

    Why anyone would want to bother with the massive bandwidth overhead of 4K on any kind of home device is beyond comprehension. You've been MARKETED INTO STUPIDITY if you're bothering with 4K outside of professional uses.

    ∑ = If you can see the added pixels, you're beyond your needs.

    1. P. Lee

      Re: So anyone cares about 4K gaming Because WHY?!

      The main home use I can see is if you want to combine your TV screen with a computer screen.

      The TV needs to be large for distance viewing, the computer needs to be hi-res for close-up work.

      Kogan has a A$999 55" 4k screen (sold out) so they aren't all in the ludicrous $4k+ range.

    2. Dazed and Confused

      Re: 4K televisions are themselves a ridiculous concept

      I suggest you go and look at one

      They might be stupid money now, but it wasn't that long ago that the same could be said for flat screen normal res tellys, then HD. Soon they'll be cheap. I've already seen them sub £800.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So anyone cares about 4K gaming Because WHY?!

      I think 4k televisions are great.

      In my case I've got 4 HDTC screens, and would prefer a single screen to replace them all (4 screens are a pain to maintain aligned + you have boundaris between them)

      4k monitors are too small and expensive for their size.

      I am thinking about replacing my 4 full hd monitors by a 40 inches 4k TV and display everything in picture by picture (or using an adapter).

      Thinking of it, I find 4k TV more usefull than a super mega powerful 3d card to display games in 3D (1080p upscaled would do to me).

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