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Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

arstechnica.co.uk

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Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#21

Post by saturdaysaint »

This makes sense, as the increasing capability of tablets and phones has made portability a lot less of a priority in a laptop for me, at least. It's almost hard for me to imagine why a MacBook Air was an appealing buy for me in 2011 - I think that a decent laptop was superior for a lot of general use tasks that any recent iPhone can now do just as comfortably/quickly. When I have to use a full system at home, I expect some sort of a major advantage in terms of capability and I care a lot less about form factor.

I wonder if Apple even has a response in these areas where svelteness has much less of a premium.

Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#22

Post by matthewaveryusa »

xlayn wrote: post #18

Another good reason for dropping the M is in my opinion all related to how good another company got at creating gpus... that's Intel. Intel first eliminated the whole aftermarket entry level gpu industry and will probably eliminate the middle tier also. As Pluma states "If you're going with a dedicated graphics card in your laptop, battery life is already out of the window, so you might as well get as much processing…

I'm actually really excited about external GPUs (eGPUs) that supplement your laptop when you need it. I think this is the perfect compromise.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-...

Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#23

Post by TillE »

pjc50 wrote: post #19
jon-wood wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you try removing the heatsink/fans and cleaning them out. I was close to replacing my laptop because it was constantly overheating and it turned out the problem was a copper heatsink grid thing which was densely packed with dust, insulating the entire computer. Since cleaning that out my laptop is good as new.

Yes, that was my first thought on experiencing the problem. It's often quite hard to do (that's why I mentioned "How well is the essential issue of fan and heatsink maintenance considered in the design of the laptop?" above). One of my laptops requires taking the whole thing apart from the keyboard side in order to get at the heatsinks below, so I gave up. And of course there are laptops on sale which are glued shut.…

> And of course there are laptops on sale which are glued shut.

Are there? Even Macbook Airs can be opened with nothing more than the appropriate pentalobe screwdriver. I had to do it a while ago to clean out the fan which had developed an annoying clicking noise.

Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#24

Post by cma »

overcast wrote: post #17
pluma wrote: post #2

Well, it makes sense. If you're going with a dedicated graphics card in your laptop, battery life is already out of the window, so you might as well get as much processing power as the thing can handle. As a proud owner of a laptop that could double as a self-defense weapon to cause massive blunt trauma (and a charger that falls squarely into the same category) I welcome this decision. I am however considering gettin…

The issue isn't so much battery life, as it is heat dissipation. How does that thing handle cranking out that much? Granted the new 1000 series is pretty damn efficient at what it does(my 1070 is amazing for the price), it's still a lot for a laptop.

From the article: more CUDA cores at a lower clock. Since clock scaling isn't linear on power consumption, doubling the cores and halving the clock (as an example, not the actual ratio they used), leaves you with a net efficiency gain.

Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#25

Post by pjc50 »

TillE wrote: post #23
pjc50 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that was my first thought on experiencing the problem. It's often quite hard to do (that's why I mentioned "How well is the essential issue of fan and heatsink maintenance considered in the design of the laptop?" above). One of my laptops requires taking the whole thing apart from the keyboard side in order to get at the heatsinks below, so I gave up. And of course there are laptops on sale which are glued shut.…

> And of course there are laptops on sale which are glued shut. Are there? Even Macbook Airs can be opened with nothing more than the appropriate pentalobe screwdriver. I had to do it a while ago to clean out the fan which had developed an annoying clicking noise.

Microsoft Surface. I suppose you could call it a tablet, but it has a keyboard and an i7 processor and runs Real Windows including games. The tablet/laptop distinction is being eroded, and "tablets" are much more commonly held together with glue.

Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#26

Post by pjmlp »

xlayn wrote: post #18

Another good reason for dropping the M is in my opinion all related to how good another company got at creating gpus... that's Intel. Intel first eliminated the whole aftermarket entry level gpu industry and will probably eliminate the middle tier also. As Pluma states "If you're going with a dedicated graphics card in your laptop, battery life is already out of the window, so you might as well get as much processing…

And they still offer crappy 3D performance and for long time had better DirectX drivers than OpenGL ones, which sometimes lied about their actual hardware capabilities.

Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#27

Post by xlayn »

matthewaveryusa wrote: post #22
xlayn wrote: post #18

Another good reason for dropping the M is in my opinion all related to how good another company got at creating gpus... that's Intel. Intel first eliminated the whole aftermarket entry level gpu industry and will probably eliminate the middle tier also. As Pluma states "If you're going with a dedicated graphics card in your laptop, battery life is already out of the window, so you might as well get as much processing…

I'm actually really excited about external GPUs (eGPUs) that supplement your laptop when you need it. I think this is the perfect compromise. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-...

Yes, I gave a read to it but if I remember I think there was a piece that didn't perform up to the speed of the thunderbolt link making the whole solution run 1/4 speed.

The solution approach I think goes as back as when using the express card port on elitebooks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDiizICogMQ

It would be incredible on the other hand to get this solutions as official products from vendors like nvidia or asus without the DIY (not because I'm against it but to push making use of this solutions officially will improve the state of the solutions).

Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#29

Post by mlvljr »

aedron wrote: post #10

The most exciting thing to me in portable PCs is the 'VR backpack' form factor. As cool as the HTC Vive is, moving around with a fat cable sticking out the back of your head is a big detriment. Putting the PC in a backpack will be so perfect for VR - bigger batteries, more efficient (without the LCD), no cables. These GPUs will make VR backpacks even more viable, with reduced power consumption, better performance and…

Perfect for playing games where you are in a heavy space suit, indeed :)

Re: Nvidia stuffs desktop GTX 1080, 1070, 1060 into laptops, drops the “M”

#30

Post by overcast »

cma wrote: post #24
overcast wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue isn't so much battery life, as it is heat dissipation. How does that thing handle cranking out that much? Granted the new 1000 series is pretty damn efficient at what it does(my 1070 is amazing for the price), it's still a lot for a laptop.

From the article: more CUDA cores at a lower clock. Since clock scaling isn't linear on power consumption, doubling the cores and halving the clock (as an example, not the actual ratio they used), leaves you with a net efficiency gain.

Still, I've worked with a lot of Apple and Dell laptops and they ALL have some type of overheating issues with GPUs. Whether they've solved all these problems with this, who knows. But I'm skeptical.
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