Search Here

NVIDIA has found a way to fit the gargantuan GTX 980 into laptops, allowing them to power surround and virtual reality gaming.

Laptops have been ridiculed in the past as inadequate gaming machines. However, technological advances have given way to more powerful mobile gaming devices such as high-end gaming laptops.

NVIDIA has now crammed the performance monster GTX 980 GPU into laptops. The model was exclusive to desktop computers in the past. There is a GTX 980M discrete graphic cards for laptops, however, it doesn't perform as well as its desktop counterpart.

Many gamers want the GPU because of its top-tiered performance not only for 1080p, but also for 4K gaming. NVIDIA made it possible due to the graphic card's high-end specs.

For laptops, the new GTX 980 packs a solid 8GB of GDDR5 running at 7GHz clock frequency, according to Ars Technica. It also has 2048 CUDA cores to help with the rendering power which is also amplified with its high 1126MHz core clock. If that isn't enough, the GPU also has a boost clock of up to 1216MHz.

NVIDIA said that there wasn't anything chipped off from the GPU to fit it into laptops. In other words, the performance from the desktop model is expected to reflect on the laptops. So how did they do it?

The GPU maker shrunk the GTX 980's board with the help of a process called "binning," according to PC World. NVIDIA claimed that the process didn't affect the performance of the card for the laptop versions.

Additionally, the new laptops with the desktop GPU will now be able to support the Oculus Rift VR device. Laptops were previously not thought to run Oculus because it needed a desktop graphic card. Even the GTX980M wasn't able to handle the VR device.

There is already a list of laptops that will carry the desktop GPU: the Aorus X7 DT, Clevo P870DM, Clevo P775DM and the MSI GT72. However two of the most notable were the MSI GT80 and the ASUS ROG GX700.

The MSI GT80 has a larger 18.4-inch screen compared to mentioned models which only have a 17-inch screen. In addition, it also has an SLI configuration for the GTX 980.

Meanwhile, the ASUS ROG GX700 carries a removable liquid-cooler, according to Gizmodo. Users will be able to overclock much more with a liquid-cooled gaming laptop.

Prices and release dates for the GTX 980 laptops have not been confirmed yet. However, it is expected that it would cost more than desktop setups.

NVIDIA has seemingly done the impossible with the GTX 980 for laptops. Which Oculus Rift game will be the most suitable for the laptops?