A few weeks after the successful launch of the first high-end desktop Maxwell models – the GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970, NVIDIA has presented the mobile equivalents of these chips that quite naturally carry the GeForce GTX 980M and GTX 970M brand names. Unfortunately for some gamers on the go and despite all the rumors, the new Maxwell chips are somewhat weaker and slower than their desktop siblings.
We’ll start with the GeForce GTX 980M – this mobile graphics solution is based on the GM204 GPU and has 1536 CUDA cores, which is less than the 2048 CUDA cores found in the desktop GTX 980. Still, the GTX 980M is the fastest mobile graphics card on the market now. The GPU used runs at 1038 MHz base clock, while the memory, which can be either 4 GB or 8 GB, runs at 5000 MHz over a 256-bit memory bus.
The GeForce GTX 970M graphics card has the same GM204 GPU but sports 1280 CUDA cores that run at 924 MHz, a 192-bit memory bus and either 3 GB or 6 GB of video memory depending on the version and model chosen. The memory also runs at 5000 MHz.
NVIDIA says the GTX 980M and GTX 970M offer about 80 per cent of the performance offered by the desktop versions of these cards but even then they are much faster than older solutions such as the GTX 680M graphics card where in some tests, according to NVIDIA, the GTX 980M is more than twice faster. In addition to that NVIDIA states that mobile graphics cards of the previous generation offered up to 60 per cent of the performance found in their desktop equivalents.
In the meantime it has become clear that the rumored GeForce GTX 960 graphics card will not be released this year. The reason is simple – due to the excellent sales of the GeForce GTX 970 and GTX 980 solutions, NVIDIA does not want a cheaper 9th generation Maxwell-based card to compete with its flagship solutions. The weakness of AMD on the graphics market also contributes to this decision.
Source: NVIDIA