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Maxwell GM204: GTX980M / GTX970M / GTX965M


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pcgameshardware.de has first hands on test: Maxwell Mobile ausprobiert: Geforce GTX 980M und GTX 970M (You`ll find the translation of the whole articel below)

Maxwell Mobile: Geforce GTX 980M and GTX 970M

MSI came to visit us in the newsroom and in the luggage were three new notebooks with Nvidia Maxwell mobile chips. The efficient and performance-oriented architecture of the new Geforce 970M and 980M ("Maxwell 2.0") to loft mobile gaming to a new level and increase both performance and runtime significantly. Below we take a look at the new Geforce mobile versions and present the MSI notebooks in word and moving image.

With the Maxwell-generation Nvidia has been able to set new standards in energy efficiency. This is already in desktop systems a fine thing, especially interesting for high performance with low power consumption but in the mobile sector, where not only the battery limits the term, but also represent the heat and noise more critical factors. And it is here to set new standards Nvidia's new mobile GPUs Maxwell series. Already installed are the Maxwell mobile graphics cards refurbished notebook lineup of MSI. Their Marketing Manager Sascha Faber (MSI Germany) and Tina Chang (MSI Taiwan) came PC Games Hardware in the offices visit and presented the fancy new devices, including the top model GT72 Dominator with the Geforce GTX 980M.

Before we go into more detail on the notebook, let's first take on the features and enhancements of mobile Maxwell graphics cards under the microscope. The mobile versions support just like the desktop GPUs the exciting new technologies voxel Global Illumination (VXGI), which tends to bring the indirect lighting in games to a new level; Multi-frame antialiasing (MFAA), an anti-aliasing that achieve a quality similar to four times multisampling, but should weigh significantly less the GPU, and Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR), a feature which "fummel free" downsampling configurable with a Gaussian filter and thus a significant increase in image quality compared to the native resolutions allowed.

In addition, the eigeführte with the Geforce 800M series Battery Boost has been improved for mobile use. This feature increases battery life by the clock speeds of the GPU will be adjusted so that it delivers far as possible between 30 and 60 frames per second, at higher frame rates, but the performance and thus restricts the power consumption. By default, 30 fps, the user can specify this but to try their own, up to and including the upper limit of 60 images per second. According to Nvidia made ​​available films can so the running time of 30% in Leaque of Legends to 55% in Tomb Raider be extended, while preserving the gameplay is affected. The well known Nvidia Optimus technology complements this the Battery Boost.

The Geforce GTX 970M case has 1,280 cores, plus the variable boost clocked at 924 MHz, plus there's 3 or 6 GiByte GDDR5 RAM with 2500 MHz on a 192-bit memory interface. The top model, the GTX 980M, clocked its 1,536 cores with 1038 MHz plus Boost and binds to its 4 or 8 GiByte large, also 2500 MHz GDDR5 memory over a 256-bittiges interface. So much for the theory, but now we want to play our hand impressions based MSI notebooks. For this we would like to recommend the following video to my heart, there you will get a good impression of the Hands-On With the competent description of Sascha Faber.

The three new Maxwell notebooks for gamers, the MSI has brought us to visit are all processed refined and know how to please a very pleasant look as haptics, the smart aluminum chassis also allow a high stability even at low overall height and weight. So could some be realized by just under two kilograms at GS60 a height of only two inches and a feather-light weight.

Since aluminum has a relatively high thermal conductivity, MSI has also given some thought in cooling and heat dissipation. So is the top model, the example provided GT72 Dominatior Pro with a special coating for the palm rest, additionally required for cooling air is drawn in from the top and then blown away by the user to the rear. Thus, the extremely fast gaming laptop is warm even in very demanding games not over charge. Its predecessor, yet with GTX 880M, we have tested the way for the current PCGH Edition 11/2014 and awarded the PCGH-Top Product Award.

The notebooks, including the GS60, GS70 and GT72 are each equipped with an Intel Core i7-4710HQ quad core with hyperthreading and Intel Turbo Boost up to 3.5 GHz, the GS60, GS70 and GT72 Dominator GTX 970M potters each one, in GT72 Dominator GTX 980M per one. Depending on the memory configuration options vary and facilities, the GPU of the GS60 has 3 GB of GDDR5 RAM and 16 GiByte DDR3 system memory, just like the GS70, the entry-level version is also available with 8 gigabytes of system memory. The GT72 Dominatior are available with 6 gigabytes of graphics and 8 or 16 gigabytes of main memory. The GeForce GTX 980M top model of the GT72 Dominator Pro is equipped with 8 GiByte graphics memory, the main memory is either 16 or 32 GiByte. For a complete overview of the features and variants, we refer you to the manufacturer's site, this is beyond the scope of this article.

Who likes it very quickly, with all notebooks can select variants with SSDs in MSI's Super-RAID mode, allow the top model in which two or up to four separate synchronized M.2 SSDs lightning-fast access and boot times. Other equipment highlights: There would sound systems Dynaudio, which are additionally equipped next two or four speakers and a small subwoofer and offer an above average sound for notebooks. Or support the illuminated gaming keyboard from SteelSeries, which can be configured via the SteelSeries Engine and so for example macros. The top model GT72 Dominatior Pro also comes with a large backpack for easy transportation, a SteelSeries Kinzu mouse and a Syberia V2 headset. All notebooks also come with a 2-year-Pickup - & - Return Guarantee.

In our hands-on test, we were very pleased with the notebook. While the GS60- and GS70 models provide a good compromise between performance and Transportablität at the same time chic and elegant slim design, the top model GT72 Dominator Pro is undoubtedly designed to ensure maximum gaming performance.

Sorry, we could not prepare an extensive benchmarks due to time constraints. But for a quick round Crysis Warhead found herself nor the time. The former hardware killer ran perfectly well using Enthusiast settings at 1080p, including four times multisampling on MSIs hell little machine. The surface remained even after prolonged warm-cool pleasing, in addition, the noise was still in the frame - very softly is a powerful notebook due to design of course not. However, we were very impressed, a test of the GT72 Dominator GTX 980M GPU with Pro is already planned.

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Wow I was hoping for at least as many shaders are the desktop 970. Nvidia is really sandbagging the 980m to leave room for the next gen after.

For those of you who don't know, the excuse that cores are disabled for power reasons is complete bullshit. More cores = linear power increase with linear performance increase. Lowering clocks allowing voltage to drop is a cubic drop in power with a linear drop in performance. You can save lots of power by dropping the voltage and clocks and enabling more shaders to maintain performance.

There is no reason to disable cores on mobile besides saving room for the next gen. Don't even get me started on the yield BS excuse...

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First Benchmarks done with the Asus G751JY (Source: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M Tested, Benchmark Scores, 3DMark | Digital Trends)

nvidiagtx980mrome2extreme-900x600.png

nvidiagtx980mbattlefield4ultra-900x600.pngnvidiagtx980mlolveryhigh-900x600.jpg

Even in comparisson to the 980 desktop the 980m does a really good job.

Best regards

phila

P.S.: Check out first benchmarks of the 970m over here: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-geforce-maxwell-mobile-gtx-970m-gtx-980m,27833.html

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Yes, they will be mxm 3, i think that they will be usable in alienware 18 r3, but you need to mod the .inf to install the driver.

When they will come to ebay, you will find them @1000$/1100$ the first weeks and 800$ after couple of months

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Is there another test on 3dmark 11 for the 980m?

notebookcheck has just updated their site: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M - Notebookcheck.com Technik/FAQ

Perhaps it holds, what you are looking for?

Best regards

phila

News from anandtech (http://www.anandtech.com/show/8605/msi-gt72-dominator-pro-performance-preview/3) comparing the 980m with a desktop 970:

[h=3]1920x1080 Ultra Performance[/h]

68319.png68321.png68323.png68325.png68327.png68329.png68331.png68333.png68335.png

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I would also like a geforce 980m in my GT70 Dominator Pro.

But according to MSI will not do.

That's all about a new VBIOS and BIOS - or works, the change from Kepler to Maxwell too?

Taking account of the TDP.

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Still can't decide between the thinner and lighter variants. And I want a matte 1080p screen:

1) MSI GS60 with 970m 6GB - Great overall package, but I despise the logo, battery life is meager ( ~ 3hrs it seems), and only 4710HQ. I can always vinyl the lid I guess if needed.

2) Gigabyte P35x v3 with 980m 8GB or P35W v3 with 970m 6GB - Sleek thin and light, although only concern seems to be with the flex in the keyboard. Will have to wait and see if new ones fix this

3) Clevo P650SE/SG 970m 3GB or 980m 4GB - Looks like my kind of laptop but the 980m version is thicker than 970m version, and only 3GB and 4GB vRAM. Normally this would be fine but with new console ports it seems 3-4GB is min requirement

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Still can't decide between the thinner and lighter variants. And I want a matte 1080p screen:

1) MSI GS60 with 970m 6GB - Great overall package, but I despise the logo, battery life is meager ( ~ 3hrs it seems), and only 4710HQ. I can always vinyl the lid I guess if needed.

2) Gigabyte P35x v3 with 980m 8GB or P35W v3 with 970m 6GB - Sleek thin and light, although only concern seems to be with the flex in the keyboard. Will have to wait and see if new ones fix this

3) Clevo P650SE/SG 970m 3GB or 980m 4GB - Looks like my kind of laptop but the 980m version is thicker than 970m version, and only 3GB and 4GB vRAM. Normally this would be fine but with new console ports it seems 3-4GB is min requirement

If the P35x v3 really ships with 980m I perhaps might feel sorry for having ordered a 17" MSI allready ;-)

This for sure would be my option if I´d not be looking forward to ocing the 980m with the help of Prema an svl7.

And I doubt that the slim cases have enough airflow to keep the 980m cool when oced...

If you pick this wone you`ll have a very powerfull and still absolutely decent notebook.

Best regards

phila

Edit: I checked the recent hardwareluxx test of the mysn p505 (clevo based) and at first I was impressed by the slim case that should be capable fo ousing a 980m, then when I heared thet the cpu will reach temps around 94 degree i was not so sure anymore. the 970 is kept quite cool (72C) - still I wonder how the 980m will behave under this conditions. Source: http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/artikel/hardware/notebooks/32913-schenker-technologies-xmg-p505-pro-mit-geforce-gtx-970m-im-test.html?start=1

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I have a hard time trusting some of these temp reportings from these sites. My typical experience is I can get the temps 5-10C lower just by repasting myself and tuning the speed/frequency of the CPU, thanks to XTU.I have yet to get a laptop with factory applied thermal paste that I haven't been able to easily drop temps by at least a few degrees C with a repaste. I have an i7-4810MQ in my current Clevo W230SS, but I run it at 3.2GHz and -75mW undervolt for gaming. But use it at 3.6GHz when doing video encoding or other non-GPU hungry stuff. Not to mention limiting FPS in games, etc. I dropped CPU temps in BF4 from 95C+ down to 80-85C just by dropping CPU speed, undervolt, and limiting FPS to 60.

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I have a hard time trusting some of these temp reportings from these sites. My typical experience is I can get the temps 5-10C lower just by repasting myself and tuning the speed/frequency of the CPU, thanks to XTU.I have yet to get a laptop with factory applied thermal paste that I haven't been able to easily drop temps by at least a few degrees C with a repaste. I have an i7-4810MQ in my current Clevo W230SS, but I run it at 3.2GHz and -75mW undervolt for gaming. But use it at 3.6GHz when doing video encoding or other non-GPU hungry stuff. Not to mention limiting FPS in games, etc. I dropped CPU temps in BF4 from 95C+ down to 80-85C just by dropping CPU speed, undervolt, and limiting FPS to 60.

Mhm... Maybe. Yet I thought the CPU in the upcomming MSI / Clevo / Asus was all part of the motherborad and therefore can not so easily removed or repasted?!

... after all CPU and GPU soldered on the mainboard .

Source: Schenker Technologies XMG P505 Pro mit GeForce GTX 970M im Test

Best regards

phila

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Mhm... Maybe. Yet I thought the CPU in the upcomming MSI / Clevo / Asus was all part of the motherborad and therefore can not so easily removed or repasted?!

Source: Schenker Technologies XMG P505 Pro mit GeForce GTX 970M im Test

Best regards

phila

The GPU doesn't need to be removed to repaste the heatsink.

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Repaste is regarding thermal paste between CPU/GPU and their heatsinks not the CPU/GPU themselves. This can be done on each and every system.

In general all 4GB GTX980M and 3GB GTX970M are fixed on-board or using non-standard stuff like the Asus, while 8GB GTX980M and 4GB GTX970M are upgradeable MXM modules.

Also all HQ CPUs are fixed onboard while MQ are upgradeable.

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Repaste is regarding thermal paste between CPU/GPU and their heatsinks not the CPU/GPU themselves. This can be done on each and every system.

In general all 4GB GTX980M and 3GB GTX970M are fixed on-board or using non-standard stuff like the Asus, while 8GB GTX980M and 4GB GTX970M are upgradeable MXM modules.

Also all HQ CPUs are fixed onboard while MQ are upgradeable.

Hi there and thank you. Good news about the cooling system.S

On the other side I find it interesting to hear that the 3GB and 4GB models are fixed on board.

Best regards

phila

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Interesting to see MSI are preparing an upgrade kit... I was dumb enough not to realise the 980 was coming and just 7 days ago bought a Clevo based system with SLI 880M 8gb's....(p570wm) Speaking to the system builder (pcspecialist in the UK) they think it will NOT be possible to upgrade these due to Vbios differences >.< Have to say I the SLI 880s are a dream coming from an x7200 with SLI 480s but its a real kick in the teeth to drop the money on the machine and a few days later along comes the 980.

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