NVidia NV17M Mobile GPU Preview

Mathew Solnik writes: "A year ago nVidia set the laptop world on fire with the release of the GeForce2 Go mobile graphics chipset. Today they push the envelope with the release of the NV17M mobile graphics chipset. Offering unmatched performance in 3D gaming applications, the NV17M promises to put nVidia at the forefront of high end graphics solutions for mobile systems. This GPU is much faster then the Geforce2 Go and is more or less the Geforce3 for laptops. Check out AMDZone for the preview." Pretty incredible how powerful laptops are, even given their lag behind desktop performance. This is far more powerful than any video card I've ever owned.

Comments

Laptop Gaming

[Rosonowski]

Personally, Laptop gaming is nice... except for
-the small screen
-the cramped keyboard
-the battery life....

I just don't see a reason, honestly, for having 'awesome gfx' in a laptop.

Re:Laptop Gaming

[rlangis]

Small screen? Are you high? 14.1" is very nearly a 17" CRT! Some high-end laptops are touting a 15" screen even. Max resolution (or should I say 'optimized resolution'?) is somewhere in the 1500x1400 range.

Cramped keyboard? Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't close keys a BOON while gaming? No more having to stretch to reach ctrl-7 - the keys are MUCH closer together.

Uhm...if you game, and are on battery power... Why aren't you using the power block? Laptops aren't *always* about being on battery power.

Mobility does not necessarily mean 'cut off from civilization'. If I had spurious amounts of cash, I'd buy a very high-end laptop. 30+ gig HD, GeForce Video, DVD/CD-RW, 15" screen, 256M at minimum... All in one, small, easy to carry package. The wife has a new Inspiron 8100. Everything, and I do mean *everything* is on board. Why NOT use it for gaming? I'd rather pack a 8-lb laptop over to my friend's house and plug in ONE cord (or two; one for power, one for network, if he doesn't have a WAP) than a 30-lb tower, 40+ lb monitor, a pack full of cables and other assorted hardware...

I might be able to make more room for the Vodka!

great and LCD refresh rates ?

[johnjones]

I never saw the point myself

great you can mangle triangles and blit them to the screen fast

OR

have 2 hours more working time

now on a trip on a train which would you rather have

intel have finally woken up to power with transmeta breathing down their backs and you guys want to waste it useing these cards.

hell Xscale / MIPS with a LCD controller on chip is way for me

regards

john jones

Re:great and LCD refresh rates ?

[Sycraft-fu]

Some things:

1) When the chip is working with 2d, it does not consume max power. Like all processors consumption is based on how hard it is working. Now granted, something like this won't be as low power as say a Rage Mobility, it still has sufficiently low drain to work in a laptop.

2) The target kind of laptops for this are, by their nature, large high drain devices. They probably have large LCDs (15"), fast processors (900mhz+) lots of ram and so on. Computers like that also tend to pack lots of battery power. We have some new Dell C810s at work with the GeForce 2 Go and when you stick both battries in they can really last a long time, even when doing 3d work.

3) Some people would rather have a single system than a desktop and a laptop. In that case, having powerful grapics can be important. For some, work requires it, and for others, it games. And please, don't give me any shit about game on PCs or that you ought to own a console or the like. Having fun is important and some of us really like PC games.

I get a little sick of people whining about the power consumption of digital devices in general. Yes, companies should strive to make devices that minimize power drain, and believe it or not by and large they do, however there are legimate reasons to want to own high drain devices with lots of silicon. If a tiny MIPS computer works for you, fine, use it, but please dont' assume that the rest of us don't have legitmate uses for beefier systems. That use may well just be to amuse ourselves, but that is a perfectly good use.

Modern laptops are pretty fast

[CTho9305]

A friend of mine has a P3 1gig + geforce2go, I have a tbird 700 + geforce2gts. His outperforms mine in UT - he plays at 1600*1200, I play 1024*768. Its pretty impressive. The disadvantage of laptops, however, is price - a high-end AMD system can be built for aruond $600 + monitor, whereas a laptop costing that much would most likely be slow and have a terrible quality display.

Re:Ugh.

[terradyn]

I see slashdot's role as trying to bring technology information to everyone's attention. I keep up with technology but keeping track of all the different news sites can be very time consuming. I'm glad they posted this news bite since I don't regularly visit amdzone. Mobile graphics is something I'm interested in even if you aren't. Keeping in mind the massive audience that slashdot has, I think you should be a little more open to the different articles that show up. I certainly don't think certain articles are useful to me, but know they will be helpful to many others.

Obligatory Open Source argument...

[Speare]

nVidia supplies source code only for the 2D functionality on their cards to date, apparently because their technology draws on some patent-encumbered features from third parties (rumored SGI). nVidia flatly refuses (and indeed cannot) release the specifications to Open Source developers.

nVidia supplies a binary precompiled OpenGL-accelerated driver for Linux, or rather several varieties for different kernel configurations. However, those precompiled drivers are (1) not supported by some distributions (e.g., Red Hat) because they can't be properly debugged, fixed or improved by distribution-producing companies, and (2) are unstable for some people running Linux for unknown reasons. A badly written kernel plugin can wreak plenty havoc on the whole running system, with little protection.

Matrox and ATi are more supportive of the Open Source world, because they are in control of their own technologies and see the benefit of many developers collaborating on their drivers. DRI support can move forward to get fast and safe access to video hardware without endangering the safety or security of the rest of the machine.

One of the Windows technologies' biggest problem is the unexplained BSoD. Death from nowhere with little explanation. The major cause of BSoDs is poorly written device drivers which run in an unprotected ring zero environment. One bad instruction can ruin your whole machine's state. Is this what we want for the Linux environment? Are we going to keep adding unprotected, unknown and undebuggable closed source solutions into the Linux kernel, adding more and more sources of kernel lockups? Do we need to start talking about a PSoD (Penguin Screen of Death)?

I'm looking forward to the upcoming drivers for new ATi Radeon cards, myself. Open Source DRI/DRM drivers and solid 2D and 3D performance. How about you?