After a long wait, it’s finally official. Today, Nvidia has announced that the Pascal GPUs will be making their way to the notebooks, and with it, the gaming notebook scene is about to get a lot more interesting.
So first off, the Pascal GPUs. Upcoming gaming laptops from various brands such as MSI, Gigabyte, Alienware, Razer and other manufacturers will be shipping their Pascal-powered laptops in the very near future. These laptops will be running on either the GTX 1080, the GTX 1070 or the GTX 1060. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that there isn’t an M suffix at the end of the model numbers, that is because all of the Pascal GPUs used in the laptops will be the exact same ones found on the desktop card, albeit with a lower Thermal Design Power (TDP). In terms of performance, the notebook-based Pascals is expected to have a 10% performance variance when compared to its desktop counterparts.
What does that mean in terms of performance? For starters, the Pascal-powered laptops will see a 75% increase in performance when compared to their Maxwell-powered counterparts. For the laptop-based GTX 1080, Nvidia is saying that the card itself is twice as power as two GTX 980Ms running in SLI. The power draw of the laptop GTX 1080 is stated to be the same as the desktop version of the GTX 980.
Another department that proves the superiority of the Pascal-based GPUs over the Maxwells’ is in overclocking. According to Nvidia, the Pascal GPUs’ overclocking potential is two and a half times higher than Maxwell, with some variance depending on the laptop model. Furthermore, the Pascal GPUs will have Dual-FET power supply, multi phased power controllers and factory OC support. Battery life will also be improved thanks to Pascal, as Pascal-powered laptops see a 30% increase in battery life when compared to Maxwell. Nvidia will also be bringing a new feature to laptops called ‘Refined BatteryBoost.’ This feature would give laptops better performance in games despite the laptop itself being unplugged. This feature will be available on both Maxwell and Pascal-powered laptops via a driver update that will be available some time today.
With the introduction of the notebook-based Pascal GPUs, Nvidia has also announced that future gaming notebooks will be a lot more interesting. For one, future gaming laptops that run on the Pascal GPUs will be VR ready. The presence of Pascal on laptops also means that 120Hz 1080p GSync displays, as well as 1440p GSync displays, will be more prevalent going forward. As for laptop sizes, Nvidia has promised that the Pascal GPUs will be found on laptops of all shapes and sizes, ranging from heavy duty desktop replacements, to ultrabook-class laptops. Alongisde GSync, Nvidia will also be rolling out Ansel to Pascal-powered notebooks, a feature that will allow gamers to take special screenshots through an in-game interface.
Now that we’ve briefly introduced you to the Pascal GPUs, we’ll be giving you a quick first look as to what to expect from the notebook-based Pascal GPUs.