Our Aim
To provide you with an overview on New And existing technologies, hopefully helping you understand the changes in the technology. Together with the overviews we hope to bring topical issues to light from a series of independent reviewers saving you the time And hassle of fact finding over the web.
We will over time provide you with quality content which you can browse and subscribe to at your leisure.
TekSpek 's
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series Mobile GPUs
Date issued:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 series Laptops
NVIDIA refreshed its range of graphics cards recently with the introduction of a number of new models for performance desktop PCs. Four new GeForces have been released in quick succession. The Titan X, GTX 1080, GTX 1070 and GTX 1060, all based on the new, efficient Pascal architecture, have set new levels of performance in each segment.
The leaner, energy-sipping Pascal blueprint is an obvious and sensible fit for premium graphics in performance notebooks, so it's no surprise that NVIDIA has channeled its engineering talents into getting the mobile graphics cards out very soon after their desktop counterparts. Rather than launch a number of products in a staccato manner, NVIDIA has today unveiled three new mobile GPUs simultaneously. As you will see in the table below, it pays to compare the trio of new GPUs with the desktop brethren because there is so much commonality between the two.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series Desktop vs. Mobile |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usage | Desktop | Mobile | ||||
| Model | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce GTX 1060 |
| Launch date | May 2016 | May 2016 | July 2016 | August 2016 | August 2016 | August 2016 |
| Codename | GP104 | GP104 | GP106 | GP104 | GP104 | GP106 |
| Architecture | Pascal | Pascal | Pascal | Pascal | Pascal | Pascal |
| Process (nm) | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Transistors (bn) | 7.2 | 7.2 | 4.4 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 4.4 |
| Die Size (mm²) | 314 | 314 | 200 | 314 | 314 | 200 |
| Full Implementation | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| SM Units | 20 | 15 | 10 | 20 | 16 | 10 |
| Shaders | 2,560 | 1,920 | 1,280 | 2,560 | 2,048 | 1,280 |
| Texture Units | 160 | 120 | 80 | 160 | 128 | 80 |
| ROPs | 64 | 64 | 48 | 64 | 64 | 48 |
| Core Clock (MHz) | 1,607 | 1,506 | 1,506 | 1,556 | 1,442 | 1,404 |
| Boost Clock (MHz) | 1,733 | 1,683 | 1,708 | 1,733 | 1,645 | 1,680 |
| Peak GFLOPS | 8,873 | 6,463 | 4,372 | 8,873 | 6,738 | 4,300 |
| Memory Size | 8GB | 8GB | 6GB | 8GB | 8GB | 6GB |
| Memory Bus | 256-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit |
| Memory Type | GDDR5X | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5X | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Memory Clock | 10Gbps | 8Gbps | 8Gbps | 10Gbps | 8Gbps | 8Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 320 | 256 | 192 | 320 | 256 | 192 |
| TDP (watts) | 180 | 150 | 120 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
Analysis
Take a minute to digest the numbers. There used to be a rather obvious performance gap between the desktop and mobile GPUs bearing similar names. That ends today, as NVIDIA has effectively reduced that gap to zero in the three cases above. Appreciating this, the mobile GPUs drop the 'm' suffix and are known by the same name as the desktop GPUs.
The GTX 1080 mobile chip is destined for high-end gaming laptops where performance compromise is not an option. A close look at the specifications shows that, at peak boost speeds, the mobile and desktop GPUs have identical characteristics: this really is a first. Knowing how the desktop iteration performs when supported by a capable CPU, the new mobile champion is a great fit for gaming at QHD and, at a push, at a lush 4K resolution found on the very best laptops available today.
GTX 1060 takes the same tack by following the specifications laid down by the desktop part. NVIDIA is able to play this imitation game because the Pascal architecture is wonderfully energy efficient. GTX 1060, in a mobile sense, will be a great fit for on-the-go gamers looking to play the latest titles at a full-HD resolution.
The odd one out, in a positive sense, is the GeForce GTX 1070. Rather than mirror the desktop part, it improves upon it by adding another 128 shading cores, thus offering a peak computational throughput higher than what's available in reference form on the desktop. GTX 1070, however, will benchmark at around 15-20 per cent lower than the GTX 1080, so it's ideally suited to QHD gaming with all the bells and whistles turned on.
Benchmarks from leading hardware review sites show that a GeForce GTX 1070 mobile GPU is able to blaze through fantastic-looking games when set to the highest in-game settings. The new Pascal GPUs are truly ready for the next generation of mobile gaming.
Arguably the important takeaway here is that NVIDIA is offering the same level of performance in a mobile, MXM form factor as available on a regular desktop graphics card. High-end gaming has finally become genuinely democratised.
And it's not just a huge upgrade in core specifications, either, as the imminent Pascal-based gaming laptops will feature the best G-Sync screens to date, with support for 120Hz refresh and 2,560x1,440 (QHD) resolutions. NVIDIA has also improved the wires-free Battery Boost technology for this generation of GPUs, meaning smoother gameplay when away from a wall socket.
Apart from the highly impressive specifications, the Pascal architecture is primed to take advantage of the advances in virtual reality; it features explicit hardware to accelerate rendering to both eyes. This means that any purchaser of a Pascal-based GeForce notebook is set fair to enjoy the games of today and the immersive experiences of tomorrow.
Scan Computers is excited and proud to be one of the first to retail a new breed of enthusiast-class laptops featuring the trio of NVIDIA GeForce 10-series Laptops