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GeForce GTX 480M benchmark compilation

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

The main benchmarking sites have already published results of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M (mobile Fermi). In case you missed some of them, here you have a compilation:

Please note that only the last 2 ones are apples-to-apples comparisons, because the older ones are comparing the GTX 480M paired with a desktop processor against the 5870 paired with a notebook processor.

In some games the GTX 480M gets an advantage of 25 or even 30%, but in many games both cards score similar results (maybe within a 10%; the average is a 19% in favor of the GTX 480M at Tom’s Hardware).

You can configure laptops with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M at well known assemblers such as Xotic PC, Cizmo and others.

Sager NP8850 (Built on Clevo W880CU) Gaming Laptop

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M benchmarks (mobile Fermi): 10% faster than ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

As usual, the guys at Notebookcheck.net are among the first ones providing benchmarks of the lastest mobile graphics cards. They have published a review of the GTX 480M in the Clevo D901F that you can read in depth, but from their results, I have to say I’m not very impressed.

  • In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Metro 2033 (DX11) the GTX 480M is 7-10% faster than the best score of the 5870
  • In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 both cards get nearly identical scores, and in Crysis the GTX 480M is a 6% slower than the 5870
  • DIRT 2 (DX11) is the only game where the GTX 480M really owns the 5870: it is a 38% faster.

So, is the GeForce GTX 480M faster than the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870? Yes, it is. And probably the GTX 480M is going to perform better with newer drivers and newer games. But at the moment the price premium of the GTX 480M (490 USD over the GTX 285M, that is 75 USD over the 5870 configuring a gaming laptop at Xotic PC) is hard to justify.

Update: the guys at Hot  Hardware have benchmarked different games and get different results, more like a 30% in favor of the GTX 480M.

Update 2: more benchmarks at Notebookjournal.de

Update 3: even more benchmarks at Tom’s Hardware and AnandTech.

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M (mobile Fermi) available for preorder at Xotic PC

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

We don’t have any benchmarks yet, but it seems the last mobile graphics card from Nvidia, the Fermi-based Geforce GTX 480M, is going to be the fastest graphics card for laptops in the market (at least for a while). Do you want it in your next gaming laptop? You can pre-order a Sager NP9280 (based on Clevo D900F) at Xotic PC. It’s going to cost you 550 USD MORE than the GTX 285M and ETA is mid-June. Did you expect something cheaper? Really?

Sager NP9280 (Built on Clevo D900F) Ultimate Custom Laptop

Update: do you want it in SLI? So you have to wait for the new monster from Clevo, the X7200!

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Laptop graphics card comparison: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870, 5850, 5730, 5650, 5470 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M, GTX 285M, GTX 260M, GTS 360M, GT 330M, 310M

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

My last compilation of laptop graphics card benchmarks is too old, so here you have the new version. I’m only covering the last generation of graphics card, and only the most common ones: if the graphics card you are looking for is not here, go to Notebookcheck or use Google (look for the 3DMark Vantage Performance score of the card for a quick comparison). Some remarks:

  • I know, the tables at Notebookcheck are much more informative, but can be confusing and some info is lacking. I think this presentation is more useful for many people.
  • 3DMark Vantage is a synthetic benchmark. It gives you an approximate idea of the performance of a graphics card, but actual gaming performance of a card can be quite different. It’s better to compare ATI vs ATI or Nvidia vs Nvidia, because many games are better optimized for a brand or the other.
  • Crysis benchmarks on High settings (1024×768) are included. Crysis is not a very current game, but it gives you a good idea of the ability of a card to play current games at high settings (remember that 30 fps is generally considered as smooth gameplay). But some newer games, such as Metro 2033, are more demanding (have a look at the comment about quality levels of Metro 2033 in the Yougamers review).
  • I have only included single card configurations, mainly to keep things simple, but also because the contribution of the 2nd card is very variable depending on the benchmark/game, driver version and so.
  • Bottom line: get at least a Nvidia GeForce GT 330M if you plan to play games, or a GTS 360M or faster if you are serious about gaming.

Feel free to post comments to add your experiences and other relevant information (preferably with links to the sources!).

Are you interested on laptops sold in Spain? Go to the Spanish version.

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Graphics card 3DMark Vantage Crysis High (1024×768) Buy featured laptops
Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M 9277
 62.3 Sager NP9285
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 8292
 56.1 Sager NP8690, Alienware M17x
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 (Asus, MSI) 7467
 Asus G73JH, MSI GX740
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (GDDR5) 6957
 MSI GX640
Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M 6498
 50.3 Sager NP8690, Sager NP8120 (SLI)
Nvidia GeForce GTS 360M (Toshiba) 5765
Toshiba Qosmio X505
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M 5686
 41.9 Alienware M15x
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (GDDR3, Acer) 5221
 Acer Aspire 8943
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M (Asus) 5084
 39.3 Asus G60J
Nvidia GeForce GTS 360M (Asus) 4670
 Asus G51JX
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 3623
 Asus N61JQ, Asus N71JQ
Nvidia GeForce GT 335M 3191
 25.2 Asus N82JV, Alienware M11x
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 3190
 23.0 Acer Aspire 5740G
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670 2947
 26.0 Dell Studio XPS 16
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 (Vaio E) 2786
 20.0
Nvidia GeForce GT 330M 2700
8292		 23.0
Nvidia GeForce GT 230M 1982
 18.7
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 1238
 13.6
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 (GDDR3) 1175
 11.9
Nvidia GeForce 310M 1131
Nvidia ION 2 696
 6.3
Intel GMA HD 285

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Finally! Alienware M17x available with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 CrossFireX

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

While the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 is already available in other laptops such as the Asus G73JH or some Clevo models, the Alienware M17x is first with the CrossFireX dual ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870. As usual, let’s wait for some benchmarks, but the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 is the fastest graphics card for laptops, and by a good margin, so the CrossFireX configuration can be awesome…

Update: As Portables4Gamers points out, the dual 5870 option has disappeared!

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Fermi-based Nvidia GeForce graphics cards for laptops, leaked?

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Maybe… According to Portables4Gamers Clevo states they

will be the first to launch Nvidia’s new Fermi architecture performance VGA. With luck, we should be the only one who will hit this new level of performance.

But David at P4G has reasonable doubts about the possibility these cards (33% hotter than a GTX 285M and potentially named GeForce GTX 380M) being in fact new iterations of the old G92 core. Fake? Marketing hype? I don’t know. Have a look at the original article and judge by yourself.

By the way, April Fools’ is tomorrow, isn’t it?

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Laptop benchmarks: GeForce GTX 285M SLI vs Mobility Radeon HD 4870 CrossFireX (Clevo vs Alienware)

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

The always excellent French site Portables4Gamers has benchmarked two mobile gaming beasts: a Cizmo Qi1840 (based on the barebone Clevo X8100) with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M SLI and an Alienware M17x with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 CrossFireX. As expected, the result depends a lot on the game and the settings, so look at the charts carefully.

Read: SLI GeForce GTX 285M vs Crossfire Mobility Radeon HD 4870

Update: Notebook Critic also publishes a comparison, but with the 280M instead of the 285M.

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Apple iPad: not a netbook killer, but maybe a Kindle killer

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

OK, this is a site about laptops, right? So I’m going to be brief about the Apple iPad, because it isn’t a laptop, a netbook or something new to replace them. There is a whole lot if information published today in the Net: here you have a nice summary of many hands-on articles. This is my take:

  • It’s not a netbook killer. It’s too expensive.
  • It’s not an ultraportable killer. It offers much less functionality and performance at a similar price.
  • It’s not an iPod/iPhone killer. It’s too big. And if you are paying a data plan for your phone, why would you pay another one for the iPad?
  • It could be an Amazon Kindle killer. It costs the same as the 10-inch DX version and offers a lot more functionality. It all depends on the eye-strain induced by this kind of screen.
  • It’s a new kind of device designed to watch and show things. I think it has a lot of appeal at home and also for professionals that need something light and cool to show data to customers. In this respect I completely agree with the views of Nick Mediati (PC World). And it has an edge over Windows-based tablets, that are designed as PCs without keyboard and without a clear objective.

Is it going to sell well? I think yes, a lot. It’s a cool device that’s going to attract home customers and it’s not too expensive. But if your needs include a lot of text input, multitasking or connectivity, go for an ultraportable. I find it silly to have both, but sure, some people has a lot of money to burn.

Apple iPad

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Core i7 processors available for the Alienware M17x

Monday, January 18th, 2010

So the Alienware M17x has been updated with Intel Core i7 processors (and Core i5; please note the i5 and the i7 620M are dual-core processors). You will have to wait a bit more for the update to ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870, probably until mid- or late-february, at least that’s the ETA of the Asus G73JH according to Xotic PC.

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Intel Core i5 Mobile (Arrandale) processors reviewed: more performance, same battery life

Monday, January 4th, 2010

The new Arrandale processors are Intel’s lastest processors for mainstream laptops. They are dual-core processors that support Hyperthreading (so they can work virtually as quad-cores) and incorporate the GPU in the same chip as the CPU. Today it’s the official launch and so the first reviews are up. Engadget has compiled some of them. In summary:

  • Performance is higher, from 10% to 45%, depending on the task.
  • Power consumption is very similar.
  • The integrated GPU (Intel GMA HD) is up to 2 times faster than the current Intel GMA 4500MHD, but it’s still too weak for 3D gaming.

All in all, Intel Core i5 processors seem a very worthy replacement for current Core 2 Duos. As they support 4 threads and there are some models with a TDP as low as 18 W, quad-core mobile processors from AMD look less awesome now. As always, we need a good comparison!

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