NVIDIA announced today the existence of the GeForce GTX 480M, their soon-to-be-released flagship notebook GPU. The GTX 480M is the company’s first mobile DirectX 11 part, and is based on the Fermi architecture found in the desktop 400-series parts.
“First, this is DirectX 11 done right for notebooks. Tessellation is the most important new feature for the DirectX 11 API, and the GeForce GTX 480M is a true tessellation monster for the notebook platform. It offers a dedicated Tessellation engine for up to 5x more performance than any other GPU.
Second, with the power of the GeForce GTX 480M GPUs, notebook manufacturers can set new records for notebook performance. Put simply: If a notebook maker wants to build the fastest possible system on the planet, they will start with GeForce GTX 480M as its foundation.
Third, we’ve now brought the vaunted Fermi architecture to notebooks. GeForce GTX 480M delivers nearly three times more NVIDIA CUDA cores over previous generation Notebook GPUs, which means users get unbelievably fast video transcoding, upscaling from standard definition to high definition and real-time movie clean-up with the click of a button.
And finally, the GeForce GTX 480M not only delivers the world’s best gaming frame rates, it also gives added features that no other GPU offers, including NVIDIA 3D Vision technology for an immersive gaming experience, NVIDIA PhysX technology that brings games to life with dynamic, interactive environments and NVIDIA Verde Notebook Drivers for the most up-to-date performance from your notebook.”
For those interested, specs are as follows:
- 352 CUDA Cores
- 425 MHz Core clock
- 850 MHz Shader clock
- 1200 MHz GDDR5 Memory clock
- 256 bit Memory bus
- Memory Bandwidth: 76.8 GB/sec
- 897 CUDA GFLOP/sec
- Texture Fill rate: 18.7 billion/sec
Of course, for those not content with the potential horsepower a single GTX 480M provides, 2-way SLI configurations are expected as well.
The first system built around the new mobile Fermi GPU will be from Clevo. A firm release date has not been announced, but is expected sometime this summer, with other manufacturers expected to release models soon after.
The Icrontic Viewpoint
Brian Ambrozy
This is like a Lamborghini. Sure, there’s someone out there who drives one, but he’s not you. He has tons of disposable income and doesn’t give two shits about practicality. Big, hot, heavy, and loud. Doesn’t matter. It’s the fastest.
Nick Mertes
My biggest concern is what kind of notebook will be required to house this GPU. I’m looking forward to a direct performance contest between the GTX 480M and a Mobility Radeon 5870. As a gaming laptop user, I’m really hoping they have the power, noise, and heat under control. I’m not opposed to a large laptop (my current one is an Asus G73JH-A2), so a 17″ display with a PSU that doubles as an effective bludgeoning weapon doesn’t bother me. But I do care whether I’m going to go deaf and/or suffer third degree burns while playing TF2.
Robert Hallock
I have no doubt that the 480M will be a top-flight performer, but I’m not really sure who said this couldn’t be done. NVIDIA has trimmed Fermi to suit DTRs, the one class of notebooks designed to run hot’n’heavy. They might raise a few brows by competitively driving the architecture down through smaller segments, but NVIDIA hasn’t bushwhacked a soul today.
Articles RSS