NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470M

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470M

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470M is a high-end laptop graphics card introduced in 2010. It is based on the GF104 core as part of the Fermi architecture (as opposed to the GF100 core that the faster GTX 480M is based off of). As a result, the GTX 470M supports both DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.0.

GF104 architecture

The GF104 core of the GTX 470M is related to the GF100 core of the GeFore GTX 480M and offers 384 shaders and a 256 Bit memory bus for GDDR5. The GTX 470M, however, offers only 288 cores of the 384 and a 192 Bit memory bus. The architecture of the GF104 is not comparable to the old GT215 (e.g., GeForce GTS 350M) or G92b (e.g., GeForce GTX 285M) cores.  Unlike the GF100, the smaller GF104, GF106, and GF108 cores were not only reduced in size, 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 of the GTX 470M 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 reduced (only 1/3 of the shader are FP64-capable and thereby 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 5850).

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

Performance

Because the GeForce GTX 470M features a new architecture, the performance is not comparable to older chips with a similar core count. In contrast to the Radeon HD 5850, which could optionally use DDR3 memory, the 192 Bit memory bus of the GTX 470M is combined with GDDR5. Furthermore, the Fermi-based chips offer higher Tessellation performance than DX11 chips of the Radeon HD 5000 series. The performance of the GTX470M should also be a bit above the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 and first tests even show performance scores above a GTX 480M. Therefore, all modern games of 2010 (except Metro 2033 and Crysis) should run in highest detail settings fluently.

Features

A novel feature of the GF104/106/108 chips is the support for Bitstream HD Audio (Blu-Ray) output via HDMI. Similar to the Radeon HD 5850, the GTX 470M can transfer Dolby True HD and DTS-HD bitstream-wise without quality loss to a HiFi receiver.

The GTX 470M offers 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).

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 GTX 470M can be of use in general calculations. For example, the stream processor can encode videos considerably faster than can many modern CPUs. Furthermore, physics calculations can be done by the GPU using PhysX if supported (e.g., Mafia 2 or Metro 2033).

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

Unofficially, the power consumption of the GeForce GTX 470M should be at about 75 Watt (TDP including the MXM board and memory), which is about the level of the Mobility Radeon HD 5870. Without load, the chip is clocked at 50/100 MHz (chip/shader) and 200/400 MHz in 2D mode and 3D mode, respectively, to save power. Furthermore, the 400M series supports Optimus to automatically switch between the integrated graphics card from Intel and the Nvidia GPU. However, whether or not this feature is included on a notebook will be dependent on the notebook manufacturer. As modern quad cores (2010) don’t house an integrated GPU, we won’t see many Optimus designs with GTX 470M before the launch of Sandy Bridge in 2011.

The similarly named desktop GeForce GTX 470 is based on the GF100 chip and offers 448 shader cores. Therefore, it is significantly faster than a GTX 470M.  Instead, a more comparable desktop GPU to the GTX 470M in terms of overall performance would be the GeForce GTS 450.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce GTX 400M Series

GeForce GTX 580M SLI 768@620MHz

GeForce GTX 485M SLI 768@575MHz

GeForce GTX 470M SLI 576@535MHz

GeForce GTX 480M SLI 704@425MHz

GeForce GTX 460M SLI 384@675MHz

GeForce GTX 485M 384@575MHz

GeForce GTX 470M 288@535MHz

GeForce GTX 480M 352@425MHz

GeForce GTX 460M 192@675MHz

Pipelines288 - unified
Core Speed *535 MHz
Shader Speed *1070 MHz
Memory Speed *1250 MHz
Memory Bus Width192 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 11, Shader 5.0
technology40 nm
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement01.11.2010
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 41399     avg: 41762.5 (39%)     max: 42126 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 22248     avg: 23057 (71%)     max: 23866 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 16184     avg: 16509 (64%)     max: 16781 Points
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 7167     avg: 7167 (32%)     max: 7167 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 5406     avg: 5409 (50%)     max: 5412 Points
3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 9787     avg: 9800.5 (32%)     max: 9814 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 8420     avg: 8589.3 (25%)     max: 8787 Points
...
Radeon HD 4850 -13%
GeForce GTS 450 0%
GeForce GTX 470M
GeForce GTX 550 Ti 16%
Radeon HD 5770 16%
...
GeForce GTX 590 268%
0%
100%
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 7.2     avg: 7.5 (95%)     max: 7.8 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 7.2     avg: 7.5 (95%)     max: 7.8 points
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 41.31     avg: 41.7 (55%)     max: 41.99 Points
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 29.6     avg: 30.2 (22%)     max: 30.8 fps
...
Radeon HD 5670 -24%
GeForce GTX 470M
GeForce GTX 550 Ti 6%
GeForce GTS 450 10%
Radeon HD 5770 23%
Radeon HD 5850 25%
...
GeForce GTX 590 350%
0%
100%
SPECviewperf 11 - Catia 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 4.19     avg: 4.2 (10%)     max: 4.29 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Ensight 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 19.09     avg: 19.1 (49%)     max: 19.19 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Lightwave 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 9.49     avg: 9.5 (17%)     max: 9.51 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 7.1     avg: 7.4 (8%)     max: 7.74 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Pro/ENGINEER 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 1.03     avg: 1.1 (8%)     max: 1.15 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - SolidWorks 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 5.85     avg: 5.9 (11%)     max: 5.88 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Tcvis 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 0.66     avg: 0.7 (2%)     max: 0.68 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Siemens NX 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 2     avg: 2 (5%)     max: 2.02 fps
3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 2162     avg: 2205.5 (25%)     max: 2249 points
3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 1970     avg: 2002.5 (22%)     max: 2035 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)
low:
84.6  fps      Compare
med.:
77.6  fps      Compare
high:
77.2  fps      Compare
ultra:
62.1 64.1 ~ 63 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Fifa 11
Fifa 11 (2010)
low:
472.6  fps      Compare
med.:
314.3  fps      Compare
high:
227.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
150 150.9 ~ 150 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)
low:
111.8  fps      Compare
med.:
85  fps      Compare
high:
73.8  fps      Compare
ultra:
43.9 46.1 54.1 ~ 48 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
StarCraft 2
StarCraft 2 (2010)
low:
254.3  fps      Compare
med.:
92.9  fps      Compare
high:
75.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
40.5 41.1 ~ 41 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Just Cause 2 (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
Metro 2033
Metro 2033 (2010)
low:
97.2  fps      Compare
med.:
65.7  fps      Compare
high:
34.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
11.8 12.1 ~ 12 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 ultra. - more...
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010)
low:
126.3  fps      Compare
med.:
97.2  fps      Compare
high:
70.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
36.6 37.5 ~ 37 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Stalker: Call of Pripyat (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
CoD Modern Warfare 2
CoD Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
low:
213.7  fps      Compare
med.:
108.2  fps      Compare
high:
87.8  fps      Compare
ultra:
56.8 58.2 ~ 58 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen
Risen (2009)
low:
129.4  fps      Compare
med.:
83.6  fps      Compare
high:
54.9  fps      Compare
ultra:
38 38.2 ~ 38 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 (2009)
low:
155.8  fps      Compare
high:
98.9  fps      Compare
ultra:
60.6  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Need for Speed Shift
Need for Speed Shift (2009)
med.:
109.6  fps      Compare
high:
88.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
55.4 55.7 ~ 56 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2
Colin McRae: DIRT 2 (2009)
low:
167.1  fps      Compare
med.:
143.9  fps      Compare
high:
96.5  fps      Compare
ultra:
53.4 53.9 ~ 54 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Anno 1404
Anno 1404 (2009)
low:
175.2  fps      Compare
ultra:
66.3  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
ArmA 2 (2009): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
F.E.A.R. 2
F.E.A.R. 2 (2009)
low:
192.2  fps      Compare
med.:
131.7  fps      Compare
high:
109.8  fps      Compare
ultra:
58.2 58.2 ~ 58 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto (2008): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead (2008)
low:
218.5  fps      Compare
high:
164.6  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 (2008)
low:
168  fps      Compare
high:
113.6  fps      Compare
ultra:
50.6 50.6 ~ 51 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Crysis Warhead (2008): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings low. - more...
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (2007)
low:
275  fps      Compare
med.:
158.5  fps      Compare
high:
105.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Supreme Commander - FA Bench (2007): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings ultra. - more...
Crysis - GPU Benchmark
Crysis - GPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
119.4  fps      Compare
med.:
78.7  fps      Compare
high:
63.8  fps      Compare
ultra:
16.3 16.6 ~ 16 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - CPU Benchmark
Crysis - CPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
141.1  fps      Compare
med.:
81.3  fps      Compare
high:
61.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
15.5 15.8 ~ 16 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
World in Conflict - Benchmark (2007): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...
Call of Juarez Benchmark
Call of Juarez Benchmark (2006)
high:
78  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark (2005)
high:
235  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
F.E.A.R. (2005): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - 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 GTX 470M graphics card

Deviltech Fragbook DTX (P170HM) (Intel Core i7 2630QM, 17.3")
» Review Deviltech Fragbook DTX (Clevo P170HM) Notebook - Review
» Deviltech Fragbook DTX (P170HM) - External Review

One G90 (Intel Core i7 2720QM, 17.3")
» One G90 - 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 GTX 470M
Author: Klaus Hinum (Update: 2012-01-25)