Brace yourself: NEW MAXWELL CARDS INCOMING!

N=1 is talking about guys like me who is basing their decisions on stuff that hasn't been officially released yet.

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An I7-4700 with only integrated graphics, and a medium quality 1366x768 screen would be an upgrade over my present laptop (not to mention 4 keys are dead and remapped). So I have no worries with being happy with my choice almost no matter what, the only question is how happy and for how many years.

To be honest I am rather amazed at the games I can play on my present one, be nice not to have to make custom configuration files below low settings for them though. Wonder what the shadows and fog, etc in Skyrim look like, guess I will find out in a month or two. Be able to try some of the first person shooter games I can only get about a 1.5 K/D ratio in, at over 10 fps too. Lots of fun gaming to come :laugh:

 

Nope haven't heard of her.

OK I went back and edited my original post to make it more clear. I'm not blaming anybody for jumping the gun on Maxwell, given all the hype and rumors in this thread. I was really trying to explain why I stick to the "believe it when I see it" routine, because hyping something up too much leads to unrealistic expectations and disappointment at best, and screw up someone's purchase plans at worst. That's all.

 

No worries dude. I think we need both sides to stay honest and to make the best decision possible.

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I agree at least, I have done this so many times with games that are hyped up; you pre-order them then they turn out to be crap such as Alien Colonial Marines(glad I stayed away from that one). Always have lo expectations until there are facts to be given. Thought that doesn't mean you should expect it to be bad, I personally am going to wait for it to be released as I have no real reason to buy now.

 

Really? Comparing video games to graphics cards...?

 

With out real evidence(if there is any I'm mistaken) they are pretty much both the same things; unknowns. Don't see how exactly you can't make an analogy out of it as in reality to predict what it is going to be like you do the same things, look back at the older games, look to where they are going with it, and other things. To be fair I could of replaced games with space shuttles and it wouldn't really of made any difference at least to me.

 

Told you it was obscure! (Some people might have got me!) Plus, I might be 10 yrs older than you! (Or conversely you might be 10 yrs older than me!!!) (Although lateral thought involved either way!)

 

or conversely me liking sheryl crow and not even knowing what that reference is....

anyway those are good scores and ones that I didnt know would be achieved

basically that means that the 750 ti was actually supposed to launch as the 840 and lower, but due to some issues it launched as it is now

 

C'mon now!...You're making me sound like some kind of crazy Sheryl Crow fan...really!!!

 

We already knew you were crazy we just added the Sheryl crow bit

 

lol I just went over the GTX 880M SLI game benches.
Look at this site and scroll down to the games: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M SLI - NotebookCheck.net Tech
Note that the "Ultra" benches there are with lots of MSAA enabled. FXAA instead means the FPS will skyrocket.

Multiply those with 1.5.
Overkill?

 

Cool...I can leave it at that!

 

Nice! Future-proofing's the word(s)! Did you say you wanted 3K or 4K sir, or was that possibly 120Hz for the gentleman!?

 

Yeah pretty good spot for future proofing indeed. I just have to wonder if there will come any games in 1080p out that will put 980M SLI to its knees in the coming years though.

3K or 4K would be ideal for these GPUs indeed, but there doesnt exist any 17 or 18" with that resolution. Here`s to hoping they will finally come out this year.
120Hz is also perfect for this, and I think only Clevo with their 17" have 120Hz displays and SLI. Alienware 18 doesnt.
So thats a pro for the Clevo

 

Yep. I like all of that...challenge the hardware with the game advancement/resolution/and Hz; I'd personally buy my performance in this order though: Hz / game advancement / resolution. (2 years and I reckon 980M sli won't be able to do over minimum 30fps on the most advanced game at ultra and 1080p - arbitary prediction, although I bet someone will come along and tell me that some current game can't do that presently with SSAA maxed!)

 

I doubt any games will bring a 980m SLI to its knees at that res for at least 2-4 years (assuming they use the SLI, and aren't bottlenecked by the CPU). Something might make you reduce AA, or drop a few settings to high, but I doubt you will ever even have to look at medium settings for at least 5 years.

On the other hand if you end up using it for a 3k/4k screen, or to power an oculus rift (or equiv), or triple monitor display, then you might start running into problems sooner. Even then if those scores are accurate it should be able to at least manage many games at 4k or such even if you have to drop a couple settings from ultra.

So hoping for a good color, >60hz, WQHD or maybe 3/4k screen in a 17-18" laptop with SLI.

 

I think the real benefit of 980M SLI is that 120Hz panels can finally be utilized to their fullest extent without having to compromise on graphical fidelity.

 

It seems to be a bit mixed opinions about how long a 980M SLI can play 1080p here, but 120HZ is something we all can agree on.
Still havent tried that before, so Clevo or Asus with 120Hz could def be a potential buy for me.

I think a GTX 970M SLI will be overkill for 1080p displays. GTX 980M (single card) will probably be good for 120Hz too, considering its over 680M SLI in performance.
Good times ahead for sure

 

I will also point out that the raw strength of the 980M will benefit streamers who need to game-capture fullscreen games (when in SLI you only get 1/2 the fps; so a "30fps" stream will look like 15fps to the viewers) since they can easier put stuff to 1 card and forget about it, as well as flat out for games that don't use SLI. When Titanfall released I had to OC my 780M to keep it at 60fps maxed, and with a 980M that wouldn't have happened

 

I think for 120Hz it's impossible to have too much power! If you want to raise up your minimum fps then go all out with the GPU's & CPU and keep the resolution low. Who wouldn't like a minimum fps of 120! Yeah, 120Hz would be cool, but I'm not even the converted, I've only ever experienced my 78Hz (but can testify to how good it is over the 60Hz!). Titanfall & the like are really what this is about!

 

not really difference of opinion there Cloudfire I was going off your bring it to its knees. The within 2 years estimate someone gave was more like under 60 fps with ultra settings, maxed AA. Got to agree with them my estimate was for having to dip into high settings or risk 30 fps (about where 580m SLI is now really looking at notebook check benchmarks).

 

The 980M probably won't even hit 100 FPS on BF4 (Ultra Preset). It will be perfect for 1080p & V-SYNC on a 60Hz panel. Pascal will be overkill for 1080p.

The 780M sees about 51~55 FPS on Ultra in BF4 with optimized driver support. Add 50% to that and you barely reach 85 FPS. Crysis 3 barely sees 30 FPS with the 780M on maximum settings. The 980M should see about 45~50 FPS.

Basically, if you want to know what FPS the 980M will provide, take the 780M's performance and add 50% - 60%. 980M SLI will definitely be nice for 120Hz, though.

 

If Pascal comes out and I do not own 980Ms, I will probably go for Pascal + 1440p 120Hz. If I get 980Ms, I will wait for Volta and grab 1440p 120Hz, unless 2880 * 1620 is mainstream 120Hz by the time volta is out.

 

Also, keep in mind that Pascal is expected to require a new motherboard. There's a good chance you won't be able to upgrade to it. Unless you have money to waste, upgrading the 780M to the 980M may not be worth while. When Pascal hits the market, you will likely need an entirely new laptop, and you will definitely need a new system for Volta.

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

GTX 980M. Not too bad. 50% of the games is around 60FPS, so the 980M looks like it is absolutely needed for max settings

Sims 4:
110FPS

Risen 3:
83FPS

GRID:
105FPS

Watch Dogs:
47FPS

TES Online
87FPS

Thief
60FPS

AC Black Flag
52.5FPS

BF4
72FPS

Bioshock Infinite:
105FPS

Tomb Raider:
110FPS

Crysis 3:
50FPS

Far Cry 3:
53FPS

Hitman:
60FPS

Metro2033:
62FPS

 

Ugh, thats probably like 2016.
Hell no

 

I went to the same link and I'm seeing different numbers, lol.



My 780M actually performs better than what they reported here with BF4.

---

EDIT: Oh, you're reporting 980M FPS, lol. You edited your post.

 

Yeah, was adding 50% over 880M.
Have no idea how 980M really will be though, but somewhere around that. Cant wait to see some reviews to see the real deal

 

I did not expect to keep this P370SM3 by the time pascal/volta comes out. If broadwell is not socketed, I would likely get Maxwell's final refresh cards in a couple years for mobile, shove em in this P370SM3, then ride it out until volta. At volta, we should have Skymount or maybe the intel CPU after skymount (which should be a nice improvement over <S>Blast Furnace</S> Haswell) and then I ought to be set. It's not like another die shrink (or two, as Skymount WILL be another Die Shrink to I think 10nm) will make the chips extra hot. So yeah. If I can't acquire 20nm GM 204 flagship chips before the interface changes, then I'll probably make a move (depending on how good my 780Ms are doing) when Pascal's refresh comes out; hopefully Skylake at the time would be great.

lol what XD. My 780Ms are doing fine now; but if I fail to afford 980Ms (or their refresh) by the time Pascal is out, might as well skip maxwell, no? =3

 

If you want 980M SLI AND 120Hz then Clevo might be the only option, unless Alienware starts offering 120Hz panels on the AW18.

980M performance can be approximated by 780M SLI based on what we have.

 

Would it be ridiculous to start considering 980m SLI 120hz monitor for end of year/start of 2015? Maybe sli isn't needed though.

 

I guess today is the worst day of the year for those who always like to say "Technologies evolve each day so buy now or you always will just wait and wait for better because it is always gets better with time".

Spoiler

If A is bigger/faster on 50% than B then it is not truth that B is 50% smaller/slower than A.
Just a hint for my previous post

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dyihQtBes1I

 

Ah true, but in a couple days people get to start waiting for pascal, skylake, 20nm, 14nm, etc....
(not me I'm getting a maxwell 970m, or 980m)

And ah so thats the one of the like 8 errors he made in that post you were referring to.

 

I've been waiting for Pascal, but I wanted to be sure Maxwell performed as highly as I expected from the beginning to better my expectations of Pascal.

 

A change in arch that brings performance increases is always a good moment to buy. A rebrand is not. Both will perform and work, but if you just bought a rebrand, chances are you will feel cheated somewhat. Hell even people that just barely managed to buy their new 880m toys, will now hear how a 980m is tearing them up a new one for basically the same price or similar.

But such is technology and that is why it is important to be informed.

 

Yes, exactly. If B is 50% faster than A, A is not 50% slower than B, it is actually only 33% slower. It's all about baseline and reference points.

 

I wonder if it's possible to use that asus PG278Q gsync using a 980m. Will it be able to keep a decent frame rate on games using 1440p?

 

If you use Gsync then "decent framerate" takes another meaning. 35 fps would be the lowest part of the range I would say, not 60.

 

If that 970M releases in the laptop I want, boy I'm up for a treat. My current setup had a 555M. Even though it's overclocked from 590MHz to 725, it's still going to be an impressive upgrade for me. Wow I seriously cannot wait.

And I have no intention in waiting for Pascal. Sure the 3D memory seems interesting. But I don't know if a larger bus will significantly improve gaming. In the end it's mainly about the processing power the gpu can handle right? And the performance improvement is going drastic. Even though we have had 2 mobile GPU releases in 1 year the 800 already had a good performance difference, but on top of that the 900 above it kills it.

 

hey im pascal? should i wait for pascal? xd............. nope i need gtx 980 to replace my 560 that i bought cheap just so i could have a working computer....... and then ill upgrade to pascal xd such a waste but i has too

 

my uni starts tomorrow and im here desperately waiting for something that not even announced =)

 

Thats the danger of reading these speculation threads.

It sucks to wait, but in the end it will all unfold and the reward is that you get a peace of mind because you bought the greatest at the best time.

I expect GTX 970M and GTX 980M will remain the golden cards until the next architecture is here.
Like GTX 680M, except this time we get high frequency VRAM at the get go (that didnt happen until 780M came out) :thumbsup:

 

Yep, just thinking about buying a card and be obsoleted right away is scary enought to make me sit tight and wait

 

Some resellers are now having a big sale on the GTX 870M & 880M laptops.

Make some room to store the 900 series.

 

Sh*t, 160+ pages of crap to sift through. Can someone summarise what is going on?

 

Only pages that matter are the last 20 pages

 

So I had an Alienware 18 replacement laptop - 4940mx, 880m SLI, 16gb Ram, Blu Ray etc... sent to me.
I sold it and have now moved on from laptop gaming - for now! Fed up with the issues.

Luckily I'm in the position where I really don't need portability and using a desktop is just better for me. Along with an excellent ultrabook with a 2k screen, great battery life and a touch screen which is easily portable.
My specs are 4790k @4.4GHZ w/h100i, 16gb 2400mhz ram DDR3, 840 pro ssd, 3tb sata storage, creative sound blaster Z, asus maximus VII hero z97 mobo.

I plan to get the GTX970 when it comes out and then in a years time upgrade to a 2k monitor when better IPS 2k monitors come out (I simply won't go TN). The Asus 2k monitor I was looking at was over 2 years old. And obviously I'll get another GTX970 to go sli. GTX970 sli @1080p is pointless (60hz). Heck, I might even go for a gtx980 sli setup instead, will see when they come out.

I didn't get the new a new Haswell-E since they're so new and will have issues initially + cost a lot more for the new Mobo/CPU's. And they would make no difference at all for gaming or non-video editing use in the next few years. At least with the Desktop versions there is no difference with Gaming, but as always this would probably not be the case for Mobile CPUs.

The great thing about building your own is how easy it is to install a new cpu/mobo so easily and upgrade. Which is what I plan to do in 2/3 years. It's like an ongoing build just picking the best parts at the time for me without having to upgrade everything (And the parts are plenty cheaper). Same with DDR4 memory which is pointless at least for the next few years for general use / gaming. They haven't even fully optimized DDR3 yet. And I finally get full control over how to use my PC in the bios! Wahoooo

I'm glad they finally improved the mobile gpu's and it's really catching up. But I'm even more glad I don't have to worry about my laptop dying and things going wrong, or overheating issues. Dell's service is great, but I hate living on the edge haha.

Also I'm getting the new K95 RGB Mechanical keyboard from corsair which should be great. Basically, if you don't need gaming portability, and you can live quite easily with a very powerful custom pc + a light laptop, always build your own. You can put it together much better than they do at a factory.

Just another point - people were mentioning that there were no 3k/4k laptops yet. There are quite a few that have been announced, from Asus, Razer and the likes. If they come with a GTX970m they should be fine. 3k/4k on a screen which is less than 15" in size is questionable as to how useful it would be though. I don't think gaming on laptops really needs to go above 2k even on an 18" screen, you can't tell the difference (I've seen a very slight difference on larger monitors).

I wonder when Alienware will refresh the Alienware 17 and 18. And I do hope they don't lock things down on the mobo as much. It doesn't make sense for them to just put the new GPU's in older models. They would probably also pair it with the new Haswell-E mobile CPUs but this will take up to 2/3 months. For laptops it will make a difference as battery life will again, be improved. And maybe the extreme mobile cpu won't throttle as much! However it doesn't fit with Alienware's refresh schedule. Sager/Clevo might bring out a new model with much improved cooling, you never know!

I'm most pleased that I didn't keep the AW18 since It would feel dated considering GTX880m issues haven't been fixed yet! Probably forcing me to spend £900-£1000 on a new pair of GPUs.
I know that Laptop Gaming is perfectly capable, especially if these new leaks are accurate... But if you can quite easily just build your own instead, do it! It's so worth it, you don't have to wait for manufacturers to bring out complete products with the parts you want, and you choose what you want in your PC.

 

Selling my current laptop and totally buying at least a 970m. Hell, I'll probably go full 980m if it's really a 50% improvement.

CANNOT WAIT. I'm also everything that's wrong with consumers apparently as I'm clearly ignoring the 880m issues just for a shiny new toy and not sending Nvidia any sort of message as to their somewhat questionable business practices....