This time last year Nvidia’s 980M introduced improved energy efficiency for mobile gamers, and now the company is touting a 30 per cent performance boost from putting a proper GeForce GTX 980 GPU into a notebook. The new chip effectively takes a desktop GTX 980 and shrinks it into a gaming laptop, giving it a huge power boost that optimises it for VR and makes overclocking possible. Yesterday, we got a sneak peek at some of the upcoming machines headed to Australia –- including the crazy liquid-cooled Asus GX700 first spied at IFA.
While Nvidia admits that not everyone will want to fork out for the price hike that comes with the jump from the 980M to the more powerful 980, these are machines for gamers who want a true desktop experience in a portable format. “Built for enthusiasts”, Nvidia claims, citing a whole list of gaming laptop firsts that come with these overpowered machine: VR compatibility, unlocked GPUs, overclocking enthusiast controls, fan control and water cooling amongst others. The GTX 980 boasts a core clock of 1190MHz with overclocking allowing speeds up to 1400MHz, depending on the notebook’s cooling. It’ll also allow you to overclock the base memory of 7.0Gbps up to 7.5Gbps, too. This is intense portable gaming tech — in one test, the Clevo P870DM actually outperformed a desktop gaming PC.
VR gaming support is one of the most exciting updates here — with VR gaming typically having four to five times more performance hunger than regular gaming. “The new GTX 980 notebook offers a great portable option for the Oculus Rift,” says Nate Mitchell, Oculus’s co-founder. “We’re excited to see high-performance notebooks powering virtual reality.” Even game developers are excited about it with executive poducer of EVE: Valkyrie, Owen O’Brien saying: “The GeForce GTX 980 notebook is a very impressive piece of hardware. EVE: Valkyrie runs super smooth on it with rock solid performance.”
Nvidia has released six new laptops with the updated GPU: two from MSI, one from Aorus, one from Asus and two from Clevo (which are often rebranded by companies like Alienware).
Most noteworthy is the Asus GX700VO water-cooled laptop which unfortunately Nvidia didn’t get to bring down to the briefing yesterday, though we did get to have a look at it at IFA earlier this year.
The Aorus X7 DT that Nvidia demoed in Sydney was hooked up to a triple monitor, surround gaming display. The chassis is impressively slim for a gaming notebook, although as a result the Aorus was notably louder than the other laptops on display.
The MSI GT72 that Nvidia brought along was set up to show off its built-in overclocking controls. MSI’s other model, the GT80, wasn’t on display, but Nvidia noted that it would support dual desktop-grade GTX 980 GPUs in SLI; mental amounts of power.
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13 responses to “Laptop Gaming Just Got Overclocked With Nvidia’s Desktop-Grade GTX 980 GPUs”
As someone who has a 980m… well sh*t
As someone who has a 580m… ooh shiny!
As some who has tried laptop gaming on one’s actual lap, all I can say is, “AAAAAAAAGH!” from the severe burns ward, 😛
Two words: stable table.
Not to get too far off track but do they even still make those?
I’ve only seen them in stores once since I got mine from my uncle back in the late 80s. And when I did find them a couple of years ago they didn’t seem to have the same build quality.
Eitherway, I’d still end up in the burns ward as the plastic melts onto my lap, :-P.
Well, I just did a search on ebay, and there was one seller there that has stable tables brand new. Seems to be a decent quality, though hard to tell from pictures alone.
Also, if you search for “lap desk”, you get many other options. Including one made out of asbestos … I kid, I kid! Though if it did exist, it would help you with your apparent sensitive skin. A true man laughs at melted plastic. At least until the ambulance arrives.
I never quite understood the point of gaming laptops. Only thing I can really think they’d be good for is going to LAN parties. Seems like a steep price tag for what it does. I guess if you can afford it the price tag isn’t a big deal though.
People who are on the go but want the powerhouse that a gaming laptop offers I guess. Personally i’m more of an ultrabook and a custom desktop kinda guy..
I work on a mine site, someone else uses my room when i am out, need something i can easily pack up and lock in the cupboard when i fly out.
Installing new hardware is overclocking now?
the reason i got a gaming laptop.. theres no space
do you doubt the need for a laptop in general?
i prefer a laptop over desktop in general (non-gaming purposes) because of ability to take it with you. so, i have 2 choices…
1) buy a ‘good’ laptop for $500 – $800 and a gaming system (xbox, ps, or desktop used for gaming) for $300 – $500… total $800 – $1300
OR 2) a gaming laptop for $1000 – $2500
a gaming laptop gives you near everything… as it can be used for laptop / daily-use, new gaming (PC games), old gaming (emulators for NES, SNES, N64, Wii, etc.), and the price is gradually going to keep coming down.
what it can’t do is play all new & old games because some games are not offered in PC, some games require use of devices that PC is not integrated for (e.g. xbox kinect; apparently Wii devices will work tho!), and perform as well as a desktop gaming (however, that appears to no longer be the case!).
while i don’t have as nice a gaming laptop as 1 with the 980m or 980, i have 1 that is near as good as 1 with the 980m. the msi ge62 apache 276. the only difference between it and the msi ge62 apache pro 219 is that it a) costs ~ $400 less b) has a 970m & 2GB video memory vs. 980m & 3GB memory and c) ships with windows 10 installed.
i got the msi ge62 apache 276 (with 16GB ram and 256GB SSD) for ~ $1050 (after $100 msi rebate) from prostar.com. so for so great.
So awesome!