28nm vs 40nm - how signficiant will the difference be ?

Hi everyone,

I've a question for the experts.

Am considering buying a new laptop now, and i do some gaming so
the graphics card is important.

Am considering new Samsung NP-700Z4, with 6750m.

However, I hear chatter about some "great leap forward in graphics
cards" coming this year (actually overdue)

from 40mn to 28nm, which is supposed to make things loads better?
(as you might have guessed i have no idea what 40 or 28nm means!)

My question is, is the advance going to be so great that its
worth waiting until june/july until these cards (new amd/nvidia)
start to be put into new laptops? Or not ?

Would appreciate someone explaining this properly too as with
google I haven't been able to find this put into laymans terms

Thanks in advance for your time!

 

major change is performance/watt. so more battery life but since most laptops have some kind of switchable graphics therefore its kinda moot unless you game on battery.

 

Aintz hit most the most important points, except that I would argue that if you are looking for a gaming laptop, at least most of what would be recommended here, most of those do not have switchable graphics at this time. I do agree that unless you plan on running on the battery that it is moot. Gaming on battery is a suicide watch for battery life.

 

I think it will be later than june if you think nvidia mobile cards. Definitely we are looking at a %20 percent leap in performance (from rumors, hope they are right), but the most important thing is what aintz said, performance/watt increase (kepler over fermi), other than that, we have some optimistic people around, I am also optimistic, but not %50 kind I think %10-20 increase in performance is already a significant one

 

here is a relevant article - AnandTech - AMD Clarifies 7000M Strategy

 

About 12 nanometers...

 

Gaming on battery yeilds lower performance too.

 

It's worth the wait for 28nm cards in 6 months time for the following reasons:

- 20% faster performance in same class.
- 22nm Ivy bridge CPU's will out by then.
- lower power consumption.
- less heat, noise and more battery run time.

But at the same time it's not worth the wait for these reasons:

- You need a laptop now.
- More expensive when first released.
- Less choices of configurations when first released.
- Too other many things happen now till second half of 2012: Windows 8 tablets, price drop on Android Tegra 3 tablets, possibility of iPad 3 and Sony's PS Vita.

If you're just interested in a laptop, don't need one ATM and want the latest in technology then wait till second half 2012 for 28nm GPU's and 22nm CPU's.

If you're a bit interested in a Tablet, Windows 8, the latest offering from Apple or Sony's handheld gaming device, get a laptop now and start saving for new gadgets come end first quarter 2012 to Q2 2012.

 

One important thing to remember is that while we do go from 40nm to 28nm in GPUs, the architecture is completely different so it may take some time for AMD/Nvidia to reach its fully potential.

That said the difference will be pretty big already from the start. 7970 have a big lead over GTX 580.

 

An improvement of only 20% would equal an immense failure in architectural development, and amount to what can be considered simply an overclock.

 

From all reports it is supposed to be 2.3x the performance/Watt for Kepler anyway.

 

I would wait unless you absolutely need a laptop now. Increased performance per watt makes quite a difference in laptops. Wait for ivy bridge and 28nm notebook GPUs.

 

I think if you have a first gen 40nm, it will be a nice upgrade. For many like me who has a HD5870M or a GTX 460M did not see much value in upgrading to last year's 40nm tech. For us who waited, I think it will be a decent boost.

Now for those who have HD6970M, GTX 570/580M, I doubt it will be worth the upgrade. I think current hardware should last at least two years now. The software and games do not keep up with advances with hardware nearly fast enough to warrant yearly upgrades.

 

We won't see 28nm mainstream mobile GPUs in a while. AMD 7400M/7500M/7600M series and NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M/630M/610M series are going to be re-branded from the previous ones. Source

 

Awesome, at this rate, we'll be back to the GT 9800 in no time

 

As a HD 6970m owner i might consider a Intel i7 2920XM + HD 7970m upgrade on my Clevo P170HMx (If its possible that is.) at a later date, like the end of this year or something.
Hopefully i can mod one of the new backlit Clevo keyboards and sacrifice a USB port for power, but these are all ideas im toying with atm.

First i gotta replace my dead Siberia V2 headset. >.<

 

Cheap high end GPUs from AMD is pretty much gone too

 

They'll still charge ~$500 out of the gate for the 7970M, just like they have with every recent generation.

A mobile AMD with 1408 shaders and 800/1000 clocks will be a massive upgrade over any of those. Like at least 40 percent.

 

That's it. It could even be justified by using the same architecture by using reduced components.

 

Not according to multiple sites where people are mad because it costs so much. I have no clue about what the price of 6970 was, but a quick google search quotes $379 at launch.
AnandTech - AMD's Radeon HD 6970 & Radeon HD 6950: Paving The Future For AMD
AMD's 6970 pricing revealed - Graphics Cards - Build - News - Atomic MPC

AMD Radeon HD 7970 justifies $549 price tag

 

We have wires crossed. I'm referring to what they'll likely charge for the 7970 M, not the desktop model.

 

Oh sorry. But since the desktop model costs $180ish more than previous gen, shouldn`t the price for 7970M go up too?

 

Well I'm already assuming too much, but AMD does tend to simply take the price of the desktop chip and do a 2x or 2.5x when pricing the mobile version of it, so I guess we'll have a good indicator when the 7870 and 7850 prices come out.

 

Here is a 28nm vs 40nm comparison for ya. If this difference is the same with notebook GPUs, you`d be a fool to miss out imo. Well I think it is impressive



AMD Radeon HD 7970 Review > Great Buy or Just Adequate for the Price? - TechSpot Reviews

 

That is already quite a big IF