nVidia GTS 160m

Hi there,


Actually, I've just read a review about the nVidia GTS 160M and ... I'm quite confused ...

It is almost as powerful as a nVidia GTX 260M and sometimes beats it ...
How can it be ?

I think there is some kind of mistake ...

Do you have reviews of the GTS 160M ??
(The one I saw was the MSI GT628 on a german website.)


B.Azerty

 

it's a 9800m gts rebadged.

 

it consumes less power (60 vs 75)

 

The GTS 160M is an overclocked 9800M GT S on a smaller process(and as Darth said, t consumes less power).

The GTX260M on the other hand is an overclocked 9800M GT X on a smaller process.

Due to the fact that both are overclocked compared to their re-branded versions, they'll perform better(for example, the GTS 160M performs near 9800M GT levels).

However, the GTX 260M should still outperform the GTS 160M by a fair margin(nearly twice the shaders). The only possible scenario I could see how the GTS160M would beat a GTX 260M is if we're talking about the Asus' G51's GTX 260M, which is noticeably weaker due to the fact that it's underclocked.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTS-160M.14561.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9800M-GTS.9918.0.html
performance wise, 9800m gts and gts 160m should be identical.
some of the 9800m gts cards are 55nm as well. nvidia basicly tweaked the power consumption and gave it a new name.

 

Depends on the model,. The MSI's GTS 160M overclocks when in Turbo mode so it outperforms a stock clock 9800M GTS, but yes, they're basically the same thing.

The GTX260M is also the same as the 9800M GTX, but with an overclock and a smaller process(65nm vs 55nm).

Both are at the base rebrands of the previous 9xxx series.

 

turbo mode overclocks the gpu as well? interesting.

 

Yes it's supposed to overclock the CPU and the GPU IIRC. Maybe an MSI user can better enlighten us as to the actual real life boost of turbo mode though since I'm unsure of what it actually does.

I know that apparently ECO mode is pretty useless(it doesn't give any significant battery life from what I've read at the MSI subforum).

 

Did you compare real world game benchmarks or 3DMark06? Unfortunately 3DMark is too CPU influenced to give you a good comparison between the GTS 160M and GTX 260M.
GTX 260M will consistently beat a GTS 160M in shader heavy/high detail games.

 

Turbo mode on MSI's only overclocks the CPU. The numbers that are similar are 3dmark06 scores, which are becoming more and more irrelevant. If you look at vantage scores or real game benchmarks, you WILL see a difference in the two cards.

 

My OC 160m got P5348, with a gpu score of 4236 in vantage. At higher resolutions, the 260m will noticeably beat the 160m. But 160m will definitely get you much better battery life.

 

Wow O_O !

I did not expect so many replies.

Anyway, thanks for the details !

By the way, here is the review : http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/test-notebook-review-msi-gt628q-9047vhp-978/2

See by yourself ^^ (very strange, don't you think so ?)

 

Well not too surprising then. The GT628 in those tests has a Quad Core lol... This explains the 3dmark06 score(which is CPU dependent) as well as some of the FPS benchmarks(GTA4 is CPU hungry for example).

Also, the FPS tests where the GTS 160M performs near or above the GTX 260M are those at lower resolutions. However, if you look at 1680*1050, you can tell the GTX 260M is starting to overpower the GTS 160M. Go any higher and it'd become more evident.

Another inconsistent thing is that some tests are comparing resolutions while other ones are comparing DirectX versions(the Far Cry 2 test)

 

Well ...
This forum is really great ...

I had all my questions answered !

Thanks a lot Forever Melody and the other members !

(I think i'm gonna buy the GT628 with Q9200 @ 2.4Ghz + GTS 160M ^^)

 

It would be a better idea to buy a GT725 or GT729 which comes with a Q9000 processor and ATI 4850 which performs the same as GTX 260M.. it will pewn the GTS160M... BTW there is no processor in MSI laptops as Q9200, max i've seen is Q9000 and Q9200 is ES so.... basically u cannot get a MSI laptop with Q9200(meaning the store only sells it with Q9000 at most.. )

 

MSI GT series are hard to find now. I think he's planning to get the 1651 ID2 barebones, which can be outfitted with a Q9200. It would be a beast, and would be much more energy efficient (and thinner) than a similar Sager machine.

 

First of all, I will be buying it in my country (France) from the website Invasion-Labs. It is not starting with www. so I don't know if you can see the website : http://v2.invasion-shop.fr/msi-gt628.html


It won't be a Sager or whatever the brand is : It will be a real MSI GT628 with a Q9200 ES FINAL (which is exactly the same thing as OEM).


Besides, I can also put a QX9300 (but I don't have the money).