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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”

#31

Post by jsheard »

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.

Tom's Hardware nicely demonstrated the non-linearity of power consumption in their desktop GTX1060 review: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-...

At factory settings the card draws 120W and pushes ~110fps in their 1440p test, but throttling the power limit down to just 60W only reduced it to ~90fps.

(As an aside, the AMD RX480 comparison shows why people are disappointed with Apple supposedly using AMD Polaris GPUs in the upcoming Macbook Pro refresh)

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

#32

Post by benologist »

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…

I'm looking forward to external GPUs becoming shareable between devices.

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

#33

Post by Vexs »

GrumpyYoungMan wrote: post #14
douche wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as it's not a wall-wart... Whoever seriously considers it a good idea to block off 2-3 outlets in a powerstrip to run one DC inverter ought to be bludgeoned with that inverter until they see reason.

Absurd as it may sound, one can find extremely short 3-prong extension cords designed specifically to take care of the wall-wart problem. Search Amazon for "1 foot extension cord" for examples.

You can even get shorter, down to a couple inches. They're fantastic.

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

#34

Post by drzaiusapelord »

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.

There's a slightly lower clock speed, but its really going to be up to the OEMs to make this all work from a cooling perspective. I suspect your average gaming laptop is so big and heavy that having another big fan in there is not going to really bother anyone.

Its probably going to be a kludgier solution, but the M series GPUs are fairly terrible, often a fraction of the performance of their desktop equivalants. I think Nvidia saw the external GPU thing on the horizon and decided this is the better approach. I tend to agree. I'd rather have a little extra weight and girth in a laptop than worry about a whole external enclosure and not having it when I'm out, or dealing with all the wires and such.

From a battery perspective, who cares. Even the M series had to be plugged into the wall for any non-trivial GPU work.

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

#35

Post by ddalex »

imtringued wrote: post #16
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…

The portable PC could double as a counter weight for the headset.

and everybody would need neck braces just to keep the contraption moving

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

#36

Post by overcast »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #34
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.

There's a slightly lower clock speed, but its really going to be up to the OEMs to make this all work from a cooling perspective. I suspect your average gaming laptop is so big and heavy that having another big fan in there is not going to really bother anyone. Its probably going to be a kludgier solution, but the M series GPUs are fairly terrible, often a fraction of the performance of their desktop equivalants. I t…

They've had external GPU solutions here and there in the past, not quite sure why it didn't catch on more. You get the mobility of a laptop, and then when you're home docked in, you can get the GPU processing power in a separate form factor.

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

#37

Post by [deleted] »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #34
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.

There's a slightly lower clock speed, but its really going to be up to the OEMs to make this all work from a cooling perspective. I suspect your average gaming laptop is so big and heavy that having another big fan in there is not going to really bother anyone. Its probably going to be a kludgier solution, but the M series GPUs are fairly terrible, often a fraction of the performance of their desktop equivalants. I t…

[deleted]

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

#38

Post by m_mueller »

jsheard wrote: post #31
cma wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Tom's Hardware nicely demonstrated the non-linearity of power consumption in their desktop GTX1060 review: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-... At factory settings the card draws 120W and pushes ~110fps in their 1440p test, but throttling the power limit down to just 60W only reduced it to ~90fps. (As an aside, the AMD RX480 comparison shows why people are disappointed with Apple supposedly…

I just don't understand why Apple seems to prefer AMD. Bad experience with Nvidia's drivers in the old Core Two Duo MBPs? Does AMD have a better track record?

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

#39

Post by jsheard »

overcast wrote: post #36
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a slightly lower clock speed, but its really going to be up to the OEMs to make this all work from a cooling perspective. I suspect your average gaming laptop is so big and heavy that having another big fan in there is not going to really bother anyone. Its probably going to be a kludgier solution, but the M series GPUs are fairly terrible, often a fraction of the performance of their desktop equivalants. I t…

They've had external GPU solutions here and there in the past, not quite sure why it didn't catch on more. You get the mobility of a laptop, and then when you're home docked in, you can get the GPU processing power in a separate form factor.

External GPUs didn't catch on earlier because Thunderbolt is the only viable standardized interface for them, and Intel refused to certify eGPU products based on TB1 or TB2.

TB3 is the tipping point where Intel decided there's enough bandwidth to make it a smooth experience, and put their weight behind the idea.

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

#40

Post by NDizzle »

Man. Hopefully these come with some kind car-like exhaust heat shield between the keyboard and everything else. I tried playing games on my macbook pro, and while it ran fine (guildwars 2, a few years ago) the machine got so blazing hot that I had to play with an external keyboard.

After a few days of doing that I figured that having the laptop that hot for extended periods of time wasn't a good idea and quit playing. Probably for the better.

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