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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M

The NVidia GeForce GTX 280M is the high-end graphic card of the 200M series and based on the G92b core (Desktop GeForce 9800 GTX+). Therefore it can't be compared with the Desktop 280M. The chip is produced in 55nm (9800M GTX yet in 65nm). Its 128 pipelines are all enabled (for the 9800M GTX only 112). The later produced GTX 285M is based on the same core with only slightly altered clock rates. Therefore, the performance of the GeForce GTX285M is very similar to the GTX 280M.

A further innovation, compared to the 9800M GTX, are the much more accelerated switch times at Hybrid Power (lower than 1 second compared to 7 seconds at the 9800M GTX).

As all cards with DirectX 10 capabilities, the GeForce GTX 280M renders the 3D images using "Unified Shaders". There don't exist any more dedicated Pixel- and vertex shaders but 128 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 (1250 MHz).

Due to the full amount of 128 Shader Cores, the GTX 280M is about 10-25% faster than the older 9800M GTX and faster than the 260M. Compared with the Mobility Radeon HD 4870, the GTX 280M is lightly slower or equal in synthetic benchmarks. However, it is a few faster in the most games. Therefore, the overall performance can be rated a bit better. Games with PhysX support (e.g. like Mirrors Edge) have the advantage of a considerable better performance with enabled PhysX effects. The memory equipment is up to 1024 MB GDDR3 (which are clocked with max. 800 MHz at MXM2 cards and with up to 950 MHz at MXM3 cards).

An advantage of the GeForce GTX 280M 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 (only with Nvidia chipset) 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 video card.

The power consumption of up to 75 Watts (of the whole board) allows the use of the card only in laptops with a strong cooling system. Therefore, the GTX 200M series can be found only in heavy and big notebooks.

Compared with Desktop graphic cards, the performance is about between the 9800 GT and the 9800 GTX (which has a considerably higher clock of 675/1675/1100).

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce GTX 200M Series

GeForce GTX 285M SLI 256@576MHz

GeForce GTX 280M SLI 256@585MHz

GeForce GTX 260M SLI 224@550MHz

GeForce GTX 285M 128@576MHz

GeForce GTX 280M 128@585MHz

GeForce GTX 260M 112@550MHz

CodenameN10E-GTX
Pipelines128 - unified
Core Speed *585 MHz
Shader Speed *1463 MHz
Memory Speed *950 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR3
Max. Amount of Memory1024 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 10, Shader 4.0
Transistors754 Million
technology55 nm
FeaturesHybridPower, PureVideo HD, CUDA, PhysX ready
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement02.03.2009
InformationMXM 3
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 2001 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 36607     avg: 38714 (88%)     max: 40754 Points
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 34632     avg: 35749 (62%)     max: 36865 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 16800     avg: 18414 (77%)     max: 20713 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 11767     avg: 12569 (66%)     max: 13652 Points
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 4740     avg: 6042 (48%)     max: 6652 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 4111     avg: 5846 (74%)     max: 7891 Points
3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 5314     avg: 6328 (45%)     max: 6779 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 5071     avg: 5243 (39%)     max: 5319 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.

Anno 1404
Anno 1404 (2009)
low:
100  fps      Compare
ultra:
40 51.5 52.7 ~ 48 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Sims 3 (2009): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...
F.E.A.R. 2
F.E.A.R. 2 (2009)
high:
82.5 86.1 91 ~ 87 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto (2008)
low:
48 55.7 63.9 65.3 ~ 58 fps      Compare
med.:
47 53.9 55.7 56.3 ~ 53 fps      Compare
high:
33 38.4 39.3 41.5 ~ 38 fps      Compare
» With most tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead (2008)
high:
104 121.2 131.5 ~ 119 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 (2008)
low:
98  fps      Compare
high:
62  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis Warhead
Crysis Warhead (2008)
low:
76  fps      Compare
ultra:
17  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Racedriver: GRID
Racedriver: GRID (2008)
high:
72.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (2007)
high:
75 78.8 117.5 ~ 90 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Supreme Commander - FA Bench
Supreme Commander - FA Bench (2007)
med.:
54.6 54.9 56 ~ 55 fps      Compare
high:
45 45.9 46.1 47.3 ~ 46 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - GPU Benchmark
Crysis - GPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
106 115.4 128.6 139 ~ 122 fps      Compare
med.:
60.9 65.9 66 67 ~ 65 fps      Compare
high:
43.1 44 45 45.1 48.6 ~ 45 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - CPU Benchmark
Crysis - CPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
95.2 102.1 117.1 ~ 105 fps      Compare
med.:
61.2 66.2 72.4 ~ 67 fps      Compare
high:
41.2 43.8 47.3 49.5 ~ 45 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
World in Conflict - Benchmark
World in Conflict - Benchmark (2007)
med.:
77  fps      Compare
high:
46  fps      Compare