Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have gained quick popularity primarily due to new generation games such as Pokemon Go being huge hits in the gaming industry. Now, NVIDIA wants to push for the adaption and progress of such technologies by bringing the traditional desktop Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to laptops, particularly for “VR ready” gaming.
NVIDIA first tested the waters for such plans last year when it placed desktop-standard graphics processors in a notebook, with GTX 980 embedded on Maxwell microarchitecture. Now, Nvidia will introduce its GPUs from the GTX 1000 series to laptops. These are not notebook-specific versions of its GPUs or the M series, but are rather desktop-class GTX 1080, GTX 1070 and GTX 1060 placed inside laptops.
In a media briefing about the new graphics chips, NVDIA Program Manager, Mark Aevermann, said: “This is something that we've wanted to do for years.” Although unsuccessful in the past, the company is now using its efficient Pascal architecture– successor to Maxwell architecture–to get these powerful GPUs in the laptops. Although, these processors are almost identical with their desktop-class counterparts, the GTX 1060 has its base clock speed a bit slower when in a notebook. To demonstrate the new products, NVIDIA showed off Gears of War 4 on a GTX 1080 notebook running at 60fps with a 4K resolution. Evidently, as Mr. Aevermann said, “These are very powerful... these are very advanced.”
The most powerful, GTX 1080 will run at 1733MHz on 2,560 CUDA cores and 8GB GDDR5X memory. On the other hand, GTX 1070, made to replace 980M chips, will run at 1645MHz on 2,048 CUDA cores and 8GB GDDR5 memory. The entry level notebook out of these new products will house the GTX 1060, developed to replace the 970M chips, and will run at 1670MHz on 1,280 CUDA cores and 6GB GDDR5 memory.
The latest GTX graphics processors are at least 150% more efficient than their M series counterparts. NVIDIA’s demos exhibit high reference performance difference between the desktop and notebook versions of the GTX 1060, GTX 1070 and GTX 1080. Some tests for the notebook GTX 1080 was better than desktop.
The company’s Pascal architecture is popular for high performance and power efficiency on desktop machines, which now seamlessly translates to the notebook space. Gamers will be impressed with the new GPUs, as they can squeeze nearly 30% additional battery life out of them. NVIDIA has worked on its battery boost technology to enhance frame variance when gaming in the absence of an AC.
NVIDIA’s biggest pitch for the new GPUs is the promise that they are ready for VR. With high-end GTX 1080, that is not such a risky promise to make. However, it starts to look vague when it comes to the base-level GTX 1060. At the company’s exhibition, the GTX 1060 was housed in a laptop along with HTC Vive headset. However, this GPU’s VR capabilities were demonstrated through a simple boxing game. On the contrary, the GTX 1080’s VR was demonstrated with much more graphically complex games. Thus, the “VR ready” promise will vary on what type of games one would want to play and on which processor. Additionally, the promise is confined to AC power as Nvidia can’t guarantee the same performance on sole battery power.
Evidently, the chip-maker is investing heavily into notebook gaming and the VR technology, while it remains positive on the industry’s business prospect and the efficient Pascal architecture. At a media event for the new GPUs, Mr. Aevermann said that gaming laptops have a 20 million unit install base for the processors, while the Xbox One has 29 million and the PS4 has 2 million. The company expects to see a 30% increase in notebook sales this year after the new GTX 1000 lineup is introduced to the markets. However, there may be little or no growth in consoles unit sales.
Every major notebook manufacturer will offer a notebook product based on the Pascal architecture including Asus, Alienware, Acer, Lenovo and HP. The GTX 1000 series will be used by OEMs in their machines; Nvidia expects manufacturers to build 18mm thin notebooks weighing 4lbs for the GTX 1060. While these dimensions sound ideal for 15-inch MacBook Pro, the company didn’t reveal if Apple will opt for its technology.
NVIDIA will bring a brand new line of graphic processors to notebooks that will be VR ready. Popular OEMs will soon come up with their machines that run on any of the GTX 1000 GPUs. This is an early step toward VR compatible notebooks. With VR technology and graphic intensive gaming on the rise, there will surely be a few reiterations to follow.