NVIDIA's Maxwell GeForce GTX 980/970M GPUs Bring Desktop Performance to Gaming Laptops

Earlier this year NVIDIA introduced the first desktop GPUs equipped with the new Maxwell chip architecture – the GeForce GTX 750i and 750. Being the first cards to utilize this new technology, these GPUs were seen as advancements in efficiency, but still were nowhere near what Maxwell is fully capable of.

Indeed, we didn't get to see what the technology could really do until last month, when NVIDIA announced the upcoming release of the much more powerful GeForce GTX 980M and 970M desktop GPUs. These new flagship NVIDIA graphics cards are just as efficient as their predecessors, yet lean much further towards the performance side of the spectrum. While the primary emphasis was placed on efficiency first and performance second, the new series outshines all similar competitors in both departments.

GeForce GTX 970M and 980M Commercially Released

Finally, today is the official release date of the aforementioned GTX 980M and 970M graphics cards, so the public will finally get a chance to see what this technology can do in their gaming laptops. If you have a PC gaming computer with a GTX 680 or 560 installed, NVIDIA recommends upgrading to the GTX 980 and 970 respectively.

The cards will come shipped in a number of gaming laptops starting today, including but not limited to:

• ASUS G751 (GTX 980M)

• MSI GT72 (GTX 980M)

• Gigabyte Aorus X7 (GTX 970M)

• Clevo P150 (GTX 980M)

• MSI GS60 (GTX 970M)

What's So Special About the New NVIDIA Graphics Cards?

The GeForce GTX 970M and 980M both carry a number of interesting features that set them ahead of the competition. Before we discuss the technology that makes the cards special, we should start by saying that c|Net has called the GeForce GTX 980M GPU the “fastest notebook graphics card in the world”.

First, they're loaded with a downsampling feature that can cram 4k resolution into a 1080p screen and make it look good. In fact, this feature actually makes it possible to force any monitor to display 4k-resolution content. But how does that work, you ask? Basically, the game you're playing is rendering content at 4k resolution, but your laptop is only equipped to display 1080p. The new GTX cards work around this to provide maximum performance by using Dynamic Super Resolution technology to project 4k-quality imagery on lower resolution displays without sacrificing image quality.

The cards also feature lower power consumption and a brand new type of Multi-Frame Anti Aliasing technology that supposedly can boost performance by up to 30%.

Another interesting feature that helps to improve the overall efficiency of the GTX 980M and 970M cards is BatteryBoost technology, which strategically balances system performance and limits in-game framerates to increase on-battery playtime by 20%-30%.

Conclusion

NVIDIA's latest line of graphics chips has successfully done something no graphics cards have done before – it has given gaming notebooks comparable performance to desktops, while also drastically improving efficiency for longer battery life, and introducing a technology that can finally display 4k content on a 1080p screen. If you're in the market for a gaming laptop, be sure to pick up a machine with one of these chips installed, or purchase the chip separately and add it to your gaming laptop ASAP.