Can 970m 3gb support 4k resolution?

I'm considering a few gaming laptops, and I have really been liking the Sager 8651. What I'm worried about is the 3gb of vRAM. I've been searching around and it seems like 3gb is good for games, but I sill haven't been able to get a definitive answer about running games like AC Unity and Far Cry 4 at the 4k resolution in particular. Other laptops do have more vRAM (I'm also looking at the Sager 8268) but they lack 4k displays, which is something I'm really partial to. Will the 3gb be enough to run current and future games at 4k at reasonable FPS?

 

You wouldn't get smooth framerate at the highest settings on certain games I'm guessing by looking at some of the benchmarks (scroll down) on this page: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M - NotebookCheck.net Tech


It's more to do with the GPU speed than RAM. 3Gb is plenty to load the textures etc.

 

These's very little chance of a 970m running 4k at a reasonable* frame rate. A 970m ( edit) is about the same powerwise as 1 of my 780m's. Even with 2 x 780m's in SLI I wouldn't be comfortable pushing and modern title at 4k. Older games would be fine though.

 

FTFY

10char

 

Oops.. auto predict on my phone... all this talk of 980m compared with 970m lol... my damn phone trying to do me favors.
I meant a 970m is about the same as 1 780m give or take.

While we're on the topic. I wouldn't even want to have to use 980m SLI for 4k unless I had a G Sync monitor to compensate.

 

vRAM has little to do with resolution. It's MUCH more dependent on the game and the settings one is running the game on. AC:Unity will eat up a clear 6GB vRAM at 4K with low MSAA levels, so no... it won't play that at 4k. Or at 1080p. Mainly because AC:Unity is unoptimized garbage.

Anyway, the general trend is that most AAA games that came out since the new consoles launched have used a ridiculous amount of vRAM without needing to. So more vRAM will always be better for THOSE games and mainly those games.

Games like The Witcher 2 or CoD: Black Ops 2 or Battlefield 4 (and probably BF: Hardline, since it's so similarly coded to BF4) and Killing Floor, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Mass effect trilogy, etc? Those would do fine both at 3GB vRAM and at 4K.

I still say that 4K isn't really worth it if the games you're going to be planning to run on it are all the newest, prettiest looking games because you'll need to turn down the settings to have them run okay, but again, that's entirely up to you on what you want to do with that. If you want to read more about vRAM and how it's affected for gaming, you can read the guide in my signature.

No, a 970M would beat a 780M cleanly. Not by a ridiculous amount, but it does. Unless you OC a 780M within an inch of its life, which can't yet be done on 900M series laptops to compare due to no unlocked vBIOS

 

About the same but still a fair bit more powerful. Having had both now, my 970m easily out performs my old 780m. At same overclocks my 780m did 8200ish and my 970m does 10200. Obviously I know you can unlock the 780m, and over volt the card. But at the cost of even higher temps and stability issues. Even in games my 780m didn't like the +135 overclock on the core at stock voltage.

My 970m has been rock stable at core +135/100 mem all day and super cool temps. I'll be able to click it higher on stock voltage once its unlocked and even higher with a small voltage bump.

 

Which is why I said 'give or take'. But the 970m does look to be the better performer more that I gave it credit for. Either way 4k ain't happening unless you live by the Ubisoft filmic creed.

 

Is 4k really that much better of experience? I think games look amazing at 1080p on my 144hz screen. Guess I need to see it for myself. I'll wait and see what games look like with DSR on when it is finally enabled on laptop GPUs.

But I agree 4k on a 970m and even a 980m isn't going to happen.

 

You should wait for the Sager 8652 which will have the 980M and will be much better suited for 4k gaming then a 970M laptop... It will also be more futureproof...

 

Hi guys

Will 980m SLI do 4K in the newest games?

Thanks.

 

Maybe 30fps. It largely depends on what game and dialing down detail settings and also what frame rate you're comfortable with.
If we are talking about max settings I still think its a struggle for new games. Old games no worries. I've seen many reviews of desktop 980's doing reasonably well at 4k but still struggling with 60fps in some games.

 

A single desktop 980 can play CoD:AW at 4K 60 FPS. Don't know of any other new games though.

 

It's pretty much dependent on the games you want to run and their current state of unoptimization.

For example, I know it can do BF4 at near ultra preset at 4k, comparing it to my 780Ms; mostly at 60fps. Far Cry 3 for example, ain't happening, at least not in DX11. But MOST games will be fine. The prettiest games that you'd WANT to run in 4K however are the hardest to run at said 4K, so... therein lies the problem. But if you're a Skyrim/Mass Effect/Mortal Kombat/CoD/etc player? You should be fine.

 

SLI 980M's should beat a single 980 which can do 4k games so yes...