NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M

NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M is a fast mid-range laptop graphics card presented in 2010. It is based on the GF106 core, which is related to the Fermi architecture. Therefore, it supports DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.0. In contrast to the GTX 460M, the card only features 144 of the 192 shader cores. The chip can be used with a 128 Bit and 192 Bit memory bus and DDR3 or GDDR5. Depending on the configuration, the performance can differ significantly.

GF106 architecture

The GF106 core of the GTX 445M is related to the GF100 core of the GeFore GTX 480M and offers 192 shader and a 192 Bit memory bus for GDDR5. The GT 445M offers only 144 shaders and in some variants also a smaller memory bus with DDR3. Except for the memory controllers the GF106 can basically be considered a halved GF104. Therefore, the architecture is not comparable to the old GT215 (e.g., GeForce GTS 350M) or GT216 (e.g., GeForce GT 330M) cores.  Unlike the GF100 the smaller GF104, GF106, and GF108 core were not only shortened, but also considerably modified. In contrast to the GF100, which was designed for professional applications, these chips target the consumer market. They feature more shaders (3x16 instead of 2x16), more texture units (8 instead of 4) and SFUs per streaming multi-processor (SM). As there are still only 2 warp schedulers (versus 3 shader groups), Nvidia now uses superscalar execution to use the higher amount of shaders per SM more efficiently. In theory, the shaders can thereby be utilized more efficiently and the performance per core is improved. However, in worst case scenarios the performance can also be worse than of the GF100 (and its predecessors). The ECC memory protection, which is important for professional applications, was completely omitted and the FP64 hardware shortened (only 1/3 of the shader are FP64-capable and therewith only 1/12 of the FP32’s performance). Because of these cutbacks, the size of the SM  grew only by 25% despite the higher number of shaders and larger warp schedulers with superscalar dispatch capabilities. Due to the different shader architectures and the higher clock rate of the shader domain, the core count can not be directly compared to AMD cores of the Radeon 5000 series (e.g. HD 5830).

Detailed information on the GF104 architecture (and therewith also the GF106 and GF108) can be found in the desktop GTX 460 article by Anandtech.

Performance

Because the GeForce GT 445M features a new architecture, the performance is not comparable to older chips with a similar core count. It heavily depends on the used memory, as DDR3 should be a bottleneck for the performance. The gaming performance is intended to be on a level with the Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (with the same type of graphics memory). In our tests a GeForce GT 445M with DDR3 memory was on average 14% faster than a Radeon HD 5850 with DDR3. Furthermore, the the Fermi based chips offer a higher Tessellation performance than DX11 chips of the Radeon HD 5000 series. For detailed benchmark values and gaming tests scroll down to the graphs.

Features

A novelty of the GF104/106/108 chips is the support of Bitstream HD Audio (Blu-Ray) output via HDMI. Alike the Radeon HD 5730, the GT 445M can transfer Dolby True HD and DTS-HD bitstream-wise without quality loss to a HiFi receiver.

The GT445M offers the PureVideo HD technology for video decoding. The included Video Processor 4 (VP4) supports feature set C and therefore the GPU is able to fully decode MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2 (MPEG-4 ASP - e.g., DivX or Xvid), VC-1/WMV9, and H.264 (VLD, IDCT, Motion Compensation, and Deblocking). In our tests for example a 1080p H.264 encoded movie was playing fluently at a very low CPU utilization (about 1%). A 1080p Youtube Flash video stressed the CPU only at 4%.

Furthermore, the GPU is able to decode two 1080p streams simultaneously (e.g. for Blu-Ray Picture-in-Picture).

Through CUDA, OpenCL, and DirectCompute 2.1 support the GeForce GT 445M can be of help in general calculations. For example, the stream processor can considerably faster encode videos than a fast CPU can. Furthermore, physics calculations can be done by the GPU using PhysX (e.g. supported by Mafia 2 or Metro 2033). 

According to Nvidia, support for 3D Vision on the new graphics cards is also new. It enables the laptop to send 3D contents (3D games, 3D Web Streaming, 3D photos, 3D Blu-Rays) to a built-in 3D enabled screen or an external 3D TV (only if supported by the laptop manufacturer).

According to rumors, the power consumption of the GeForce GT 445M should be about 45 Watt (TDP including the MXM board and memory), which is about the level of the Mobility Radeon HD 5830. Without load, the chip is clocked at 50/100 MHz (chip/shader) in 2D respectively 200/400 in 3D mode to save power. Furthermore, the 400M series supports Optimus to automatically switch between the integrated graphics card from Intel and the Nvidia GPU. However, the laptop manufacturers need to implement it and it cannot be upgraded.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce GT 400M Series

GeForce GT 445M 144@590MHz

GeForce GT 435M 96@650MHz

GeForce GT 425M 96@560MHz

GeForce GT 420M 96@500MHz

GeForce GT 415M 48@500MHz

CodenameGF106
Pipelines144 - unified
Core Speed *590 MHz
Shader Speed *1180 MHz
Memory Speed *1250 MHz
Memory Bus Width192 / 128 Bit
Memory TypeDDR3, GDDR5
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 11, Shader 5.0
technology40 nm
FeaturesOptimus Support, PureVideo HD VP4, 3D Vision, Bitstream HD Audio, CUDA, DirectCompute, OpenCL, OpenGL 4.0, DirectX 11
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement03.09.2010
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://www.nvidia.com/object/product-gef...
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 27599     avg: 27599 (26%)     max: 27599 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 10304     avg: 10322 (40%)     max: 10340 Points
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 5582     avg: 5582 (25%)     max: 5582 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 4100     avg: 4100 (38%)     max: 4100 Points
3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 5020     avg: 5249 (17%)     max: 5478 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 4513     avg: 4570 (13%)     max: 4627 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 6.8     avg: 6.8 (86%)     max: 6.8 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 6.8     avg: 6.8 (86%)     max: 6.8 points
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 32.71     avg: 32.7 (43%)     max: 32.71 Points
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 16.2     avg: 16.2 (12%)     max: 16.2 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Catia 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 3.08     avg: 3.1 (7%)     max: 3.08 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Ensight 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 11.6     avg: 11.6 (30%)     max: 11.6 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Lightwave 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 5.81     avg: 5.8 (11%)     max: 5.81 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 6.03     avg: 6 (7%)     max: 6.03 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Pro/ENGINEER 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 0.88     avg: 0.9 (7%)     max: 0.88 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - SolidWorks 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 4.04     avg: 4 (7%)     max: 4.04 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Tcvis 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 0.63     avg: 0.6 (2%)     max: 0.63 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Siemens NX 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 1.83     avg: 1.8 (4%)     max: 1.83 fps
3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 1291     avg: 1291 (15%)     max: 1291 points
3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 1148     avg: 1148 (12%)     max: 1148 points
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailled information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
med.:
61.8  fps      Compare
high:
56.5  fps      Compare
ultra:
37.1  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Fifa 11
Fifa 11 (2010)
med.:
235.5  fps      Compare
high:
163.3  fps      Compare
ultra:
98.9  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Civilization 5 (2010): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings low. - more...
Mafia 2
Mafia 2 (2010)
med.:
51.8  fps      Compare
high:
41.8  fps      Compare
ultra:
25.1  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
StarCraft 2
StarCraft 2 (2010)
med.:
58.1  fps      Compare
high:
43.5  fps      Compare
ultra:
23.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Just Cause 2 (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
Metro 2033
Metro 2033 (2010)
med.:
37.7  fps      Compare
high:
19.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
6.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising (2010): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings med.. - more...
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010)
med.:
52.7  fps      Compare
high:
39.3  fps      Compare
ultra:
21.1  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Stalker: Call of Pripyat (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
CoD Modern Warfare 2
CoD Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
med.:
63  fps      Compare
high:
52  fps      Compare
ultra:
33.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Risen
Risen (2009)
med.:
48.6  fps      Compare
high:
32.6  fps      Compare
ultra:
21.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 (2009)
low:
109.8  fps      Compare
high:
61.2  fps      Compare
ultra:
34.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Need for Speed Shift
Need for Speed Shift (2009)
med.:
75.1  fps      Compare
high:
53.6  fps      Compare
ultra:
31.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2
Colin McRae: DIRT 2 (2009)
med.:
89.3  fps      Compare
high:
56.5  fps      Compare
ultra:
31.4  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Anno 1404 (2009): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings ultra. - more...

For more games that might be playable and a list of all games and graphics cards visit our Gaming List

Notebook reviews with NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M graphics card

Dell XPS 17 (Intel Core i7 840QM, 17.3")
» Review Dell XPS 17 Notebook - Review
» Dell XPS 17 - External Review

Dell XPS 1710X (Intel Core i7 740QM, 17.3")
» Dell XPS 1710X - External Review

» Comparison of GPUs
Detailled list of all laptop GPUs with a short description. Classified and sorted by performance.

» Benchmark List
Sortable and restrainable list of all GPUs with benchmarks (e.g. 3DMarks).

» Notebook Gaming List
Which game can be played with my graphics card.

Class 1
GeForce GTX 590
GeForce GTX 580
Radeon HD 6970
GeForce GTX 570
GeForce GTX 480
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Radeon HD 6870
GeForce GTX 470
Radeon HD 5850
GeForce GTX 460 768MB
Radeon HD 6790
Radeon HD 5770
GeForce GTX 550 Ti
GeForce GTS 450
Radeon HD 4850
Radeon HD 5670
Class 2
GeForce GT 240
GeForce GT 430
Radeon HD 7590M *
Radeon HD 5570
Radeon HD 7650M
Radeon HD 6550D *
GeForce GT 220
Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5
Class 3
Radeon HD 4350
GeForce G 107M *
Chrome9HD *
Class 4
Class 5
Class 6
SGX543MP2 *
Mali-400 MP *
PowerVR SGX540 *
PowerVR SGX535
unknown *

* Approximate position of the graphics adapter

> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > FAQ / Tips / Technics > Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards > NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M
Author: Klaus Hinum (Update: 2012-01-25)