NVIDIA launches 900M series GPUs

By Jeff Belmont

Laptop graphics processors have long played second fiddle to their desktop counterparts. The market, however, has changed over the years, and not only are more end-users purchasing laptops over desktop PCs than ever before, they’re also seeking gaming grade power with portability in mind. While NVIDIA has been producing mobile GPUs for quite some time, it is with the much anticipated 900M series that we see a landmark in mobile GPU performance that comes much closer to rivaling the desktop GPU arena.

The 800M series was the first to be graced by the new Maxwell architecture that will now encompass the entire 900M line, although only select 800M chips were produced under the new architecture. It is this Maxwell architecture that allows the new graphics processing unit (or GPU) to gain so much ground in performance and efficiency.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900M Specifications

	GTX 980M	GTX 970M
Cuba Core	1536	1280
GPU Clock (MHz)	1038 + Boost	924 + Boost
GDDR5 Clock	5GHz	5GHz
Memory Interface	256-bit	192-bit
Memory Configuration	4GB or 8GB	3GB or 6GB
eDP 1.2	Up to 3840x2160	Up to 3840x2160
LVDS	Up to 1920x1200	Up to 1920x1200
VGA	Up to 2048x1536	Up to 2048x1536
DisplayPort Multimode	Up to 3840x2160	Up to 3840x2160

Laptop graphics processors have long played second fiddle to their desktop counterparts. The market, however, has changed over the years, and not only are more end-users purchasing laptops over desktop PCs than ever before, they’re also seeking gaming grade power with portability in mind. While NVIDIA has been producing mobile GPUs for quite some time, it is with the much anticipated 900M series that we see a landmark in mobile GPU performance that comes much closer to rivaling the desktop GPU arena.

Many laptop manufacturers have already incorporated the new lineup from NVIDIA, including Prostar with their P150SM-A and P157SM-A, P170SM-A and P177SM-A, and their P377SM-A gaming systems. Make no mistake; these are not your garden variety laptops you see at most big box retailers. These laptops are the best of the best, and the 900M addition makes them all the more capable.