Few questions to GTX485m users, need advice.

Dear Fellow laptop gamers,
ive been tasked to build a gaming laptop being in 1400€ range.
The user required me a GTX580m, single, but afaik mySn has a good deal on their P501 Gaming laptops.
At 1249€ theres a 2670qm laptop equipped with the GTX485m.
The user seems happy about it, however before i go further in the order process, i need some inputs on how does the gtx485m performs.
My questions:

- How does it stack up against the GTX580m?
- Are those basically the same card, just underclocked (much like gtx460m vs 560m?)
- How does it performs in overclock? He could expect at least 100mhz increase in speeds?
- How does it performs in latest games such BF3, Crysis 2, Dirt 3, F1 2011?
- Are there any threads about the card with benchmarks/overclocking results?
- Is the difference so wide to justify a new laptop with that card? (he does have a G73JH)

Please do not advice other cards, im focused on this for now. Many thanks and i hope to find the answers to my questions, more specifically im really interested in hearing those with this card, how they OC it, how it runs with Crysis 2 etc.
He plays mostly MP and FPS so this laptop prolly will end being into a tournament.
Thanks again!

 

Hi Kingpinzero,

One of my mate got a 2630qm, 4gb ddr3 and this 485m. It overclocks quite well without the overvolt, and manage to get 3700ish on 3dmark11 which is quite massive (about 50% more powerful than our 460m o/c).

@Stock here is what he can expect to have:
3dmark11: 3100 - 3dmark06: 18700 - 3dmark vantage: ~15k

I assume this is on par with a 6970m, both stock.

If then you overvolt it, apparently you can have even higher scores and so higher perf.

However, I have found a good M17x R3 on eBay with 2720QM 8gb 1333 and GTX580m for about 1500euros, will give you the link, it comes from Ireland and it is refurbished.
With the GTX580m, one guy on my french forum get to P4500 on 3dmark11 with overvolt+o/c, stock it is about 3500points but this is i think only for really hardcore gamers.
A 485M is the best choice I think for the moment.

Hope it helps you.

 

Hi pau1ow, and thanks for the input.
1500€ is out of his budget, since the machine I've posted is with included shipping and comes from Germany (I'm in Italy so shopping would be much less problematic and no customs).
So from 4500 to 3500 the gap is quite huge in 3dmark11; what it bothers me is the fact that the 485m should be an underclocked 580m right?
On notebook check the hardware seems exactly the same beside the clocks.
Like it happened with our 460m vs 560m Im expecting the 580m to reach 100mhz more in overclock.
Do you have any useful links about the overvolting or detailed infos about benchmarks and such? I wouldn't mind external links as long as I can provide informations to the buyer.
Thanks again!

 

4500 might be achieved with an extremely overclocked i7-2920xm or even 2960xm, and 3500 is done with the lowest un-overclockable quad core i7-2630qm. Difference between 485M and 580M in real world performance is usually within 10%.

Here is a 6970M review with lots of game benchmark comparison, eg: 485M vs 6970M vs 460M, IMO they are much more accurate indicator of a card's true power than synthetic benchmarks like 3dmark11 or 3dmark vantage. Link: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4223/eurocom-racer-radeon-hd-6970m-rocks/5

 

Hi Kingpinzero.

I own two laptops, one with each graphics card, and i find very little difference in the individual system performance.

Following reading this post, i ran several games side by side and noticed an average of around a 10% performance increase in most games, however this equates to only a few FPS in most cases. Notebookcheck benchmarks indicate performance increases of 2 - 15%.

It's up to you whether or not you want to spend extra for a slight performance increase, however as the GPU will always be the laptop performance bottleneck, i would personally go for the best option available.

Regarding the cards' performance: I am extremely impressed, they are fantastic cards and i am yet to experience a problem with either system, GPU related or otherwise. The only games i run without maximum settings in 1080p are Witcher 2 (Ubersampling disabled) and Battlefield 3 (Ultra settings but AA / AF reduxed from 4x/16x to 2x/2x) to ensure a consistant framerate of 30+.

One of my previous systems which has been passed on to a family member was a W860CU sporting a 460M GTX, and my 485M laptop boasts a 50-85% increase over the 460M laptop (i7 720QM vs i7 2720QM).

If the two laptops are different, i would put more emphasis into choosing your favourite brand.

485M BENCHMARKS
580M BENCHMARKS

Unfortunately i cannot post a performance comparisson chart as the notebookcheck site is overloaded.

Hopefully this helps.

 

You are definitely right, 4.5k@3dmark11 are only achievable with 2920xm:
P4G / P150HM avec GTX580M/i7 2920XM (french forum sry abou that)

But everyone knows that the CPU doesnt play much (at all?) on 3dmark11 (from i5 to i7-2720qm, i had +100pts wOw) so 4.4k points shown on the pictures is what you can expect to get with this 580m overvolted super clocked.

What you can get with the 485m with a safe overclocking is here:
P4G / [REVIEW] Clevo p150hmx i7-2630qm+GTX 485m

With overvolting it, you can achieve even more.

I totally agree with you that this is only "benchmark" and in game you won't probably see any difference from my point of view.

go for 485m, this is the same chip than 580m, underclocked though.

 

Guys, thanks a billion for the contribute, I luv ya all
At this point I got a clear view of the card and how it performs; the laptop comes with similar specs as the one linked above (althought I was expecting higher performance in some games), with the 2670qm being the only difference.
What bothers me thought is Shift 2 unleashed performance: 39fps maxed out?
On my gtx460m I'm doing 45fps of average, something doesn't add up..
Well I'll pass these infos to the buyer, hopefully he will clear up his mind.

 

The 485M is only by about 10% slower than 580M.
The 580M is NOT worth the substantial money increase.

So I personally wouldn't worry about it.

As for Shift 2 performance differences... of that, I don't know what to tell you.
Different drivers perhaps, or maybe even different system... perhaps bloat that might be affecting performance in games?
Conflict in software perhaps or lack of optimization for a specific gpu?

How did you arrive at the 39FPS maxed out in Shift 2 compared to your gtx 460M?

 

By reading the link in the previous post, it sounds to mee too low for a gtx485m oced, thats all.

Ive benched and played so much Shift 2 that i remember the performance without even using fraps anymore.

Maybe its the difference in clock speeds, im running 840 on core and 1600 mem on my lil 460m..who knows.
If the guy says ok for the laptop i guess ill be holding it for a few days when it arrives just to push it a bit

 

i think all 485's can be clocked to 580m speeds...plus the 580m and 485m both have the same number of nvidia cores (384) . They will perform on par when both have the same clocks

 

Small bump for an update.
The guy Made up his mind so I've ordered the laptop with these specs:

I7-2760qm
8gb ram
1080p matte
Gtx485m

The system isn't even in build process and he's already asking infos about how to overvolt it.

The system is clevo p150hm based.

So my questions are: is there any place I can look for overvolt the 485m?
What is considered the standard overclock on this card without overvolting?
With overvolt can it reach desktop 560ti reference clocks?

Thank you all as always!

 

Overvolting a laptop GPU doesn't seem to be a good idea, especially for high end GPUs like 485M/580M, they already emit large amount of heat in a tiny space, from what I have heard 485M runs quite hot in that 15'' chassis of clevo p150hm. And in case your laptop broke, you can't revert back before you send it in to repair, and if they somehow discovered the condition of your card by any chance, well, you may as well say good bye to your warranty.

Overclocking through software is the safest way I would say, regarding your question about its potential to reach 560ti speed, sorry to burst your bubble, I don't think 485M could ever get close to it, 560ti operates at a stock core clock of 822, that's 43% higher than the 575 for the cores of 485M, not to mention it has the huge advantage of the memory clocks as well, reaching those speed is impossible for 485M even with the help of overvoting.

 

I appreciate your input of warning mate, but take into account that some users arent complete noobs

Im speaking by experience, ive overvolted all my past laptops and i hardly had any issues as long as the overvolt is made with a brain, and knowledge.

Anyway im asking this for the sake of my sanity and for helping him out.
Therefore if anyone knows any place where i can look for informations about how to overvolt it (if by hexediting the vbios or else) i really appreciate it.

Besides when i asked IF it can reach desktop 560ti clocks, it was just a question like that. Even if it does so, it would be considerably hotter. Maybe "near" to those clocks would score a good benchmark, thats what this machine has been bought for.

Yes there are crazy peoples like him out there

 

You can overvolt through software as well. Overvolting doesn't cause any damage as long as you're smart about it and don't go overboard with the voltages.

E.g. 0.01v increase may make an overclock stable and won't have any noticeable effect on heat. A .5v increase would probably fry your card.

 

Via software? Is it even possible on gtx485m using inspector or afterburner?
I know that most laptop cards have their voltages locked until you mod the vbios, hence the question.

On desktop is almost a common practice, I overvolted almost all my cards in the past (as well as my gtx570 now).