New details about Nvidia`s Maxwell

Thanks for the info. Please pardon my confusion on this, but I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get the best Sager but w/ Maxwell graphics chip. I really like the P157sm / Sager NP8258, and would prefer not to get a less-featured chassis. But if I understand things, if I do this, I can NOT get a Maxwell GPU in this chassis, because the 860M in this one is not soldered. Is that right? Are there any options for getting the top of the line P157sm but with Maxwell GPU?

 

Yes, I do. They have to sell X amount of the current generation hardware before completely moving onto the next generation. It's a business, there are quotas to meet and contracts to fulfill between NVIDIA and Dell. Plus, it's a niche market. People will buy them no matter what. Alienware is the top of the line, in regards to mobile gaming.

They waited last year, my guess is they'll do it again this year.

 

A little bird tweeted that Nvidia is waiting to release mid/high end Maxwell`s until Microsoft have announced DirectX12.
Microsoft will present DirectX12 at GDC March 20th and Nvidia will be showing more of Maxwell at GPU conference in late March where they will use the opportunity to announce that upcoming Maxwell cards will fully support DirectX12.

Don`t take my word for it. It is a rumor, could be wrong, could be true.

 

That would make sense. This would mean a late summer release (at CES) is likely (for Alienware)!

 

Yes it actually does make total sense. Nvidia is most likely looking to beat AMD to the market with 20nm, and if they already have models almost ready for the market, announce them with full DX12 support right after Microsoft presented DX12, will be a really good strategy marketing wise.

GTX 680M is dead. You can only get it from ebay now. 800M series is the new cool kid on the block. Personally I think that kid GTX 870M is lame though.

I have no idea how Razer managed to do that with the 14". I`m thinking high temperatures there for sure, unless they have some top secret alien technology they will be using
Anyhow, I know why AORUS might not have decided to use GTX 860M. The GPU doesnt support SLI according to a slide I saw yesterday.
A MXM card would probably fix that but since Maxwell 860M doesnt come on MXM cards, or that AORUS doesnt use MXM cards, its a dead end.

 

XoticPC is offering for sale an NP9377 with 860M in SLI. It is an MXM card, however.
XOTIC PC | Sager NP9377 (Clevo P370SM3) 17.3" Custom Gaming Laptop

But you are saying the Maxwell 860M doesn't support SLI. Strange times...

 

I should have specified GTX 860M Maxwell doesn`t support SLI. My bad, well I blame Nvidia for making its difficult for people to keep track of things.

"Mom, can you buy my that Sager notebook with the GTX 860M SLI? It runs super cool and it can overclock like a beast"
"Sure hunny"
*Runs GPU-z*
*1152 cores, 128bit*
"MOOOOOOOOOOM"

Can`t blame the kid though.

 

Yeah, they want $500-$700 for a GTX 680M on ebay. No thank you.

I don't know man... the GTX 870M is 30% faster than the 770M, which closes the gap between the 870M and 880M over the previous generation. It's quite a bit cheaper than the GTX 880M. It has been suggested to me that GTX 870M in SLI might be a good solution for one seeking a new 17" laptop today, which I am.

I haven't made up my mind on anything just yet. I am not in a super big hurry either.

 

Cloudfire, it seems the GTX 800 series is a maze especially after nvidia's specification mistakes on their websites with all GPUs have 128 bit interfaces.I only wonder are there any re-sellers that accept international credit cards other than hidevolution as gentech, xoptic only accept local ones or moneyorder/paypal, it would just feel safer to speak to the re-seller and ensure what you are buying is correct...

 

Yes, it is certainly confusing, which is why I am doing a LOT of reading and keeping an open mind. I am really looking forward to some benchmarks of actual machines running 800m series both single and SLI. I saw the Razor Blade 14" got 6,795 in 3DMark 11 with the 870M. Not too shabby.

Hands-on: Updated Razer Blade and Blade Pro laptops are slim, more supercharged | PCWorld

 

GTX 870M is undoubtly a fast GPU. But its sort of a GPU that force bandwidth through hotter and faster VRAM`s (cause of the clocks and the voltage). And they removed 8ROPs from the 680M. :/
But all in all, if you need a computer now, by all means buy one with 870M in SLI. It will be a beast for sure.

I still think buying Kepler now is wrong. Look at the other threads, I wrote something about maybe we will see more of Maxwell late this month. Might be worth looking in to.

I have only purchased from Gentech and Xotic earlier. They didn`t accept internation Credit Cards. I had to do a Wire transfer to their bank account.
Dell accepted international CC though.

Maybe someone else might know some respected resellers that do

Yeah that is very nice score. Around 10% ish more than GTX 680M.
I`m interested to see real FPS in games though, to see how the 8 less ROPs will impact performance. They might do.

 

Cloudfire, I have been trying to figure out the difference between 860 and 680 in real FPS but ironically due to 860 s heavy clocks it reaches the same levels of 680 or less in 720p gaming without TSSA or other options. Yet 1080p tests are nearly always done with all the TS/MS maxed out making all cards stutter under a 30 fps frame rate, the fps tests just do not show pure 1080p gaming without any extras which makes it harder to know real difference between 680/860 in 1080p gaming.

 

Notebookcheck have a tool that lets you see FPS in many games. Just select GTX 860M and GTX 680M and compare. They are actually close sometimes in 1080p in Ultra.
But you are right, it doesnt show 1080p only on high settings for example.

You are gonna have to wait for a review from Anandtech to find out im afraid

 

I understand. The Kelper 800M series are a stop gap solution. Not bad for a stop gap I guess. At least we got some more performance out of it for no extra cost.

The money allocated for my laptop purchase can sit in the bank. My current laptop needs to be replaced, but not today. The Sager models I am interested in are not available until later this month anyway.

From that linked Razor Blade review, it seems to be handling Battlefield 4 decently enough.

"It's a devil of a choice. I played Battlefield 4 on the Blade at 3200-by-1800, Medium preset, and it looks as smooth as you'd expect. The additional pixel density adds clarity to the image and smooths out most aliasing. On the other hand, you're stuck with muddier textures and fewer particle effects, and even at Medium Battlefield ran around 40-50 frames per second. By contrast, Battlefield 4 runs around 35 frames per second on Ultra settings at 1920-by-1080."​

 

Cloudfire, I am just dieing to buy a laptop the upcoming gigabyte might solve the extremely high temps seen in the GTX 860 GE60 because of that supra cool technology or so they say but will it come now or is it going to fall behind like alienware/lenovo?

 

Agree, I don't think nVidia would change the 800 series name to the 900 series until around this time next year. They'll continue to pump out updated chips under the 800 name such as the MX or 8#5 series. Would be a bad branding call to change the series name immediately after 3 months launch.

 

Well GTX supposedly should mean it's SLI capable...

 

A little insider, taking a word for it.

Will sound like a fluff but: The DX 12 Demo will be run on AMD latest GPU.

 

Good to know that AMD is trying to get into the game.

 

Maxwell will have a tough competition this time around