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).

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 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).

Manufacturer	NVIDIA
Series	GeForce GTX 200M
Codename	N10E-GTX
Pipelines	128 - unified
Core Speed *	585 MHz
Shader Speed *	1463 MHz
Memory Speed *	950 MHz
Memory Bus Width	256 Bit
Memory Type	GDDR3
Max. Amount of Memory	1024 MB
Shared Memory	no
DirectX	DirectX 10, Shader 4.0
Transistors	754 Million
technology	55 nm
Features	HybridPower, PureVideo HD, CUDA, PhysX ready
Notebook Size	large
Date of Announcement	02.03.2009
Information	MXM 3
Link to Manufacturer Page	http://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, max: 40754 Points ... More Details

3DMark 03: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 34632, avg: 35749, max: 36865 Points ... More Details

3DMark 05: - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 16800, avg: 18414, max: 20713 Points ... More Details

3DMark 06:
0% 100%
min: 11750, avg: 12478, max: 13652 Points ... More Details

Cinebench R10: - Shading
0% 100%
min: 4111, avg: 5846, max: 7891 Points ... More Details

3DMark Vantage: - P Result 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 5314, avg: 6356, max: 6779 Points ... More Details

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card

- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
Based on 38 benchmarks

3DMark 05 in comparison
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 (min)	137
...
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2	16940
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX SLI	16942
ATI FirePro M7740	17192
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M	18414
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2	19187
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M SLI	19268
...
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M SLI (max)	19268

Game Benchmarks

Anno 1404 (2009)

low:

100 fps

ultra:

40 51.5 52.7 ~ 48 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.

F.E.A.R. 2 (2009)

high:

82.5 86.1 91 ~ 87 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto (2008)

low:

48 55.7 63.9 65.3 ~ 58 fps

med.:

47 53.9 55.7 56.3 ~ 53 fps

high:

33 38.4 39.3 41.5 ~ 38 fps

» With most tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Left 4 Dead (2008)

high:

104 121.2 131.5 ~ 119 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Far Cry 2 (2008)

low:

98 fps

high:

62 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Crysis Warhead (2008)

low:

76 fps

ultra:

17 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.

Racedriver: GRID (2008)

high:

72.8 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (2007)

high:

75 78.8 117.5 ~ 90 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Supreme Commander - FA Bench (2007)

med.:

54.6 54.9 56 ~ 55 fps

high:

45 45.9 46.1 47.3 ~ 46 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Crysis - GPU Benchmark (2007)

low:

106 115.4 128.6 139 ~ 122 fps

med.:

60.9 65.9 66 67 ~ 65 fps

high:

43.1 44 45 45.1 48.6 ~ 45 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Crysis - CPU Benchmark (2007)

low:

95.2 102.1 117.1 ~ 105 fps

med.:

61.2 66.2 72.4 ~ 67 fps

high:

41.2 43.8 47.3 49.5 ~ 45 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

World in Conflict - Benchmark (2007)

med.:

77 fps

high:

46 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Call of Juarez Benchmark (2006)

high:

29.3 33 33.1 ~ 32 fps

» With most tested laptops not playable.

Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark (2005)

high:

144 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Counter-Strike Source (2004)

high:

265 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Doom 3 (2004)

low:

161 fps

ultra:

160 fps

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.

Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo (1999)

high:

695 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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M

benchmarks

Game Benchmarks

Notebook reviews with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M graphics card

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