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NVIDIA GeForce GTS 160M

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 160M

The NVidia GeForce GTX 160M is a laptop graphic card, which is produced in 55nm and based on the G94b core. Due to the smaller fabrication, the power consumption is reduced to the level of the 9800M GS (60 Watt TDP) and therefore the 160M can also be used for 15" laptops.

As all cards with DirectX 10 capabilities, the GeForce GTX 160M renders the 3D images using "Unified Shaders". There don't exist any more dedicated pixel- and vertex shaders but 64 so called stream processors make the graphic work (which has been done by pixel and vertex shaders in former days). Furthermore, the shader units are higher clocked than the chip.

According to NVidia, the performance of the GTS 160M is at the level of the 8800M GTX and the 9800 GTX (though the reduced amount of Shaders). For current DirectX 10 games like Crysis, World in Conflict, Bioshock or Age of Conan, the performance of this graphic card is sufficient. The memory equipment is up to 1024 MB GDDR3.

An advantage of the GeForce GTS 100M series is the integrated PureVideo HD video processor. It is able to help with the decoding of H.264-, VC-1-, MPEG2- and WMV9 video material in HD quality and therefore eases the CPU.

HybridPower is a technique to choose between the integrated and dedicated graphics core, if performance or battery runtime is needed. This works only in Windows Vista. Up to now the user has to use a tool to switch between the GPUs. Later Nvidia wants to switch automatically in the drivers. GeForceBoost is not supported with this card, as there would be no performance gain to combine the integrated GPU with the graphic card.

The power consumption of up to 60 Watts (of the whole board) allows the use of the card also in 15" laptops. For example, MSI offered a light 2.8 kg 15" laptop (GT627) with 9800M GS (same power consumption).

Compared with Desktop graphic cards, the performance is about at the level of the GeForce 8800 GT (with a somewhat higher memory clock than the mobile version).

ManufacturerNVIDIA
SeriesGeForce GTS 100M
CodenameN10E-GS1
Pipelines64 - unified
Core Speed *600 MHz
Shader Speed *1500 MHz
Memory Speed *800 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR3
Max. Amount of Memory1024 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 10, Shader 4.0
Transistors504 Million
technology55 nm
FeaturesPureVideo HD, HybridPower, 
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement02.03.2009
InformationMXM 3
Link to Manufacturer Page
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

benchmarks

3DMark 2001: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
      min: 30011, avg: 30011, max: 30011 Points
... More Details

3DMark 03: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
      min: 29048, avg: 29048, max: 29048 Points
... More Details

3DMark 05: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
      min: 13775, avg: 13775, max: 13775 Points
... More Details

3DMark 06:
0% 100%
      min: 9327, avg: 9327, max: 9327 Points
... More Details

Cinebench R10: - Shading
0% 100%
      min: 3432, avg: 3432, max: 3432 Points
... More Details

3DMark Vantage: - P Result 1280x1024
0% 100%
      min: 3965, avg: 3965, max: 3965 Points
... More Details

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
Based on 6 benchmarks

Game Benchmarks

Anno 1404
Anno 1404 (2009)
low:
120.7  fps
ultra:
33.5  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
F.E.A.R. 2
F.E.A.R. 2 (2009)
low:
121.9  fps
med.:
67  fps
high:
42.2  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead (2008)
low:
141.6  fps
high:
103  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (2007)
low:
363.2  fps
med.:
153.7  fps
high:
75  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - GPU Benchmark
Crysis - GPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
88  fps
med.:
51  fps
high:
34  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Crysis - CPU Benchmark
Crysis - CPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
108  fps
med.:
52  fps
high:
33  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
World in Conflict - Benchmark
World in Conflict - Benchmark (2007)
med.:
29  fps
high:
26  fps
» With most tested laptops not playable.
Call of Juarez Benchmark
Call of Juarez Benchmark (2006)
high:
24.6  fps
» With most tested laptops not playable.
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark (2005)
high:
153.5  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Counter-Strike Source
Counter-Strike Source (2004)
high:
242.6  fps
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

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 GTS 160M graphics card

MSI GT628 (Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000, 15.4")
» Review MSI GT628 Gaming-Notebook - Review
» MSI GT628 - External Review

MSI GT628Q (Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000, 15.4")
» MSI GT628Q - External Review

 

Author: Klaus Hinum (Update: 2009-11-19)