Asus Taichi 31 Review
AMD A6-1450 APU "Temash" Review
Lenovo ThinkPad X230t Review
Sony Xperia Tablet Z Review

NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE

NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE is a mid-range, DirectX 11.1 compatible graphics card that was announced in the first quarter of 2012 for thin-and-light-laptops. It is a Kepler-based GPU built on the GK107 architecture and is manufactured in 28nm at TSMC. The graphics card uses a 128-Bit wide memory interface with DDR3-VRAM. A slower core clock of only 500 MHz differs the LE-model from a normal GT 640M. Watch out: Following rumors, there will also be a Fermi-based version (96 shaders, 762 MHz, DDR3/GDDR5, similar to 550M/555M) with a probably higher power consumption than the Kepler variant.

Architecture

The Kepler architecture is the successor to the Fermi architecture that first appeared in laptops with the GeForce 500M series. The GK107 Kepler core offers two shader blocks, called SMX, each with 192 shaders for a total of 384 shader cores that are clocked at the same speed as the processor core. Although more shader cores are available in the Kepler architecture as compared to the Fermi design, the Kepler shaders are still expected to be up to twice as power efficient. However, due to the missing hot clock of the shader domain, two shaders of a Kepler chip are as fast as one shader of a Fermi chip (the latter is clocked twice as fast). PCIe 3.0 is now supported by the mobile Kepler series and an optional Turbo mode can automatically overclock the Nvidia card by a theoretical 15 percent if the laptop cooling system allows it. The implementation of this boost mode is done in the BIOS, but it is ultimately dependent upon the manufacturer of the laptop.

Performance

Due to a clock speed of just 500 MHz, the gaming performance of the GeForce GT 640M LE is about 20 percent below the 640M. This is the same level as the GT 635M or the GT 555M. The performance is exceptionally good in shader-heavy DirectX 11 games and benchmarks. However, the 128-Bit memory interface can be a bottleneck if DDR3 graphics memory is used. Demanding games of 2011 like Battlefield 3 are playable in 1366x768 and medium settings.

Features

The improved feature set now includes support for up to 4 active displays. Furthermore, high resolution monitors of up to 3840x2160 pixels can now be connected using DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a if available. HD-Audio codecs, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, can be transmitted via bitstream mode through the HDMI port. However, as most laptops will feature Optimus, the integrated GPU will likely have direct control over the display ports and may limit the feature set available by the Nvidia Kepler cards.

The 5th generation PureVideo HD video processor (VP5) is also integrated in the GK107 core and offers hardware decoding of HD videos. Common codecs such as MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264 and VC1/WMV9 are fully supported up to 4K resolutions while VC1 and MPEG-4 are supported up to 1080p. Two streams can be decoded in parallel for features such as Picture-in-Picture. Another novelty is the inclusion of a dedicated video encoding engine similar to Intel QuickSync that can be accessed by the NVENC API.

The power consumption of the GeForce GT 640M LE is similar to the older GeForce GT 520M. As a result, the Nvidia GPU is suited for thin-and-light laptops.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce GT 600M Series

GeForce GT 650M SLI 768@790-835MHz

GeForce GT 650M 384@735 - 850MHz

GeForce GT 645M 384@710MHz

GeForce GT 640M 384@625MHz

GeForce GT 640M LE 384@500MHz

GeForce GT 635M 144@675-753MHz

GeForce GT 630M 96@672MHz

GeForce GT 625M 96@625MHz

GeForce GT 620M 96@625 - 715MHz

CodenameN13P-LP
ArchitectureFermi / Kepler
Pipelines384 - unified
Core Speed *500 MHz
Shader Speed *500 MHz
Memory Speed *900 MHz
Memory Bus Width128 Bit
Memory TypeDDR3
Max. Amount of Memory2048 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 11, Shader 5.0
technology28 nm
FeaturesOptimus, PhysX, Verde Drivers, CUDA, 3D Vision, 3DTV Play
Notebook Sizemedium sized
Date of Announcement22.03.2012
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 1335     avg: 1401.6 (14%)     max: 1519 points
3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 1241     avg: 1349 (12%)     max: 1590 points
3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 2735     avg: 5212 (14%)     max: 6182 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 2255     avg: 4528.4 (12%)     max: 5557 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 5639     avg: 8801.9 (30%)     max: 11571 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 13748     avg: 14777.3 (40%)     max: 15507 Points
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 22952     avg: 23397.3 (16%)     max: 23982 Points
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 17.1     avg: 17.7 (12%)     max: 18.5 fps
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 4831     avg: 8635 (33%)     max: 12255 Points
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 26.15     avg: 31.6 (36%)     max: 33.91 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 5824     avg: 5911.3 (55%)     max: 6105 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 4.8     avg: 6.1 (77%)     max: 6.9 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 6.2     avg: 6.6 (84%)     max: 6.9 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.

Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 (2012)
low:
51  fps      Compare
high:
26  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Counter-Strike: GO (2012): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings ultra. - more...
Max Payne 3
Max Payne 3 (2012)
low:
33.3  fps      Compare
med.:
30.9  fps      Compare
high:
13.3  fps      Compare
ultra:
10.4  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Dirt Showdown
low:
73.8  fps      Compare
med.:
55.1  fps      Compare
high:
36.1  fps      Compare
ultra:
13.4  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Diablo III
Diablo III (2012)
low:
98.6  fps      Compare
med.:
65.3  fps      Compare
high:
57.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
42.5  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen 2: Dark Waters
low:
39.1  fps      Compare
med.:
25.1  fps      Compare
high:
20.3  fps      Compare
ultra:
10.3  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Mass Effect 3
low:
60  fps      Compare
high:
39.1  fps      Compare
ultra:
26.4  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Alan Wake
Alan Wake (2012)
low:
42  fps      Compare
med.:
25.2  fps      Compare
ultra:
11.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...
Anno 2070
Anno 2070 (2011)
low:
55 90.4 ~ 73 fps      Compare
med.:
30 40.5 ~ 35 fps      Compare
high:
19 25.1 ~ 22 fps      Compare
ultra:
13.4  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
low:
31 45.7 47 48.4 49.2 ~ 44 fps      Compare
med.:
23 34.3 34.7 38 40.5 ~ 34 fps      Compare
high:
17 26.3 26.3 28 31.6 ~ 26 fps      Compare
ultra:
12.9 14.5 18.6 ~ 15 fps      Compare
» With most tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
CoD: Modern Warfare 3 (2011): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...
Battlefield 3
low:
38.1 41 ~ 40 fps      Compare
med.:
24.6 28 ~ 26 fps      Compare
high:
20.3 22 ~ 21 fps      Compare
ultra:
8.9  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Batman: Arkham City (2011): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings med.. - more...