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NVIDIA Announces GeForce GTX 980 GPU For High-End Gaming Notebooks
MojoKid writes: NVIDIA is taking things is a slightly different direction today, at the ultra-high-end of their mobile graphics offering, introducing a "new" mobile GPU implementation, that's not really a mobile part at all, the GeForce GTX 980. Notice, there's no "M" on the end of that model number. NVIDIA is betting that the enthusiasts that are most likely to buy a notebook with a GeForce GTX 980 in it are savvy enough to understand the difference. Through some careful binning and optimization of the components that accompany the GPU, including the memory, voltage regulation module, and PCB, NVIDIA was able to take the full desktop GeForce GTX 980 GPU and cram it into mobile form factors. The mobile flavor of the GeForce GTX 980 features selectively binned GPUs that are able to achieve high frequencies at lower-than-typical voltages. And those GPUs are paired to 7Gbps GDDR5 memory and a heat sink with up to 2X the capacity of typical solutions. Notebooks powered by this GPU will be unlocked, and fully overclockable.The performance of the GeForce GTX 980 will also allow notebooks powered by the GPU to push multiple screens or power VR gear. NVIDIA was demoing a GTX 980-powerd Clevo notebook at an event in New York, connected to a trio of 1080P monitors, running GTA V at smooth framerates.
So does the charger for this monster have a 10 gauge cable, to prevent cable overheating?
The only Gaming Notebooks that should exist are Pen&Paper.
Why would anyone game on a ultra-light budget-oriented laptop that has no way to provide adequate cooling or power to game?
I know those words, but in that context they make no sense.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Don't think of it as a laptop that you just game on.
Think of it as a small gaming computer you can have on your lap, with built-in UPS, that you can also take to work or on holiday.
Seriously, gaming notebooks are the best combination of things - powerful, off-grid, mobile, small, portable. I've taken to buying a better laptop and not bothering with a desktop at all. With all your games, all your work, all your VM's, and you can take it anywhere and game anywhere that there's a plug socket - LAN parties, on holiday, and still do all your work on the same PC on the train if you want.
It's not about playing GTA V on three monitors. It's showing you that it can handle three times what GTA V needs in a demo.
And you might be able to buy something cheaper but it's not going to be small enough or light enough to lug around, come with a built-in UPS (laptop battery), etc.
Don't forget - if it can do three GTA V screens simultaneously, that means it can do one GTA V screen at 1/3rd power. And still scale for a good time after you've bought it (which makes that investment more worthwhile).
Personally, Googling for their MSI model, I'm actually disappointed that it's not powerful enough. It's only 4-core with 8Gb. My old gaming laptop bought several years ago beats that in its stock configuration, and came with the same 8/8.1/10 upgrades as options to its supplied 7 licence. And it can play GTA V. In fact, I played the entire game through on that laptop. While Alt-Tabbing to work, VM's, browsing, and 1000 other games on my Steam account.
A gaming laptop isn't just for gaming. It's a laptop that - when pushed and plugged in - can game competitively with a desktop. You'd have to buy a laptop AND a gaming PC to compete and then you'd have two machine with two different purposes that you have to switch between and lug around. Not to mention the screen.
Or one laptop that you can take to work, play on the train, game seriously at home or a LAN party, and do whatever you want on it without having to suffer any major "disadvantage". PC's can't be moved. Laptops with non-gaming graphics are shit at games. Gaming laptops are the happy medium.
Now please stick in in an external Thunderbolt 3 box, so I don't have to buy a $2500 gaming laptop that weighs a stone and will be obsolete in six months when the next GPU comes out.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Normal part, just binned for high speed so that it still operates at the desired clock rate while powered from a lower voltage supply.
Essentially just the best of the best will make the cut; this makes very uncertain the actual number of viable dies out of any given wafer batch.
I've got a Sager Clevo gaming notebook with an 860M, and there's nothing to hate about it. It lasts a long time on a charge. It plays most games at their highest res. It runs Linux great. It's light, with an SSD for the OS drive. It runs two external monitors when I'm using it for work. It has no DVD, so it's lightweight. It doesn't run the Nvidia card when I'm not playing 3d games (uses the onboard Intel graphics). This GTX980 on a Clevo would likely have all those same benefits. You folks trash talking gaming notebooks are nuts.
Can someone point out to this tired old man what the point of this is supposed to be? Serious question. Is it for something other than "enthusiast" market e-peen?
Look, I get why some folks want to game on a notebook. But pretty much every single notebook with a nVidia GTX980M will play pretty much every single game at high framerates on it's screen's native res. But they've got a notebook pushing 3x1920x1080 at this NY event...is this what it's supposed to be used for? Is it really "mobile" when I need to lug 3 1080p monitors around with me in order to take advantage of this GPU?
Until very recently I was traveling for work every week, and the gaming laptop on which I am typing this post saved my sanity and liver in plenty of hotel rooms. It is a Clevo P150SM-A, weighing in at about 12lbs including AC adapter. It was not fun lugging it around airports twice a week while waiting for connecting flights. But it did the job, and I could play Fallout, Skyrim, Bioshock, Dying Light and many other games at very respectable frame rates. Even now that my traveling days are done, I am sitting on my balcony with a cup of tea, enjoying the end of the Canadian summer. I can also set it up in my living room while my significant other is watching TV.
I had gaming desktops for about a decade, and I just got tired of being stuck at the same desk in the evenings, while spending my mornings at a different desk in the office.
I am aware that a laptop's performance will never come close to that of a desktop. But if you cannot understand why someone will make that trade-off, don't click reply.
All that said, I am surprised nobody mentioned the significant issue that Nvidia has with the Windows 10 upgrade. NBR is full of reports of black screens after upgrading, and the cause seems to be the Nvidia driver overwriting the LCD EEPROM. It seems Alienwares are particularly affected, with a few Clevos as well.