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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 485M is the fastest graphics card for laptops at the time of announcement (Q1 2011). It is based on the GF104 chip and offers all 384 shader cores and the full 256 Bit memory bus. Due to the high clock rate of 575 MHz, it is significantly faster than the old GeForce GTX 480M of which it replaces. It also supports DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.0.

Other than the GeForce GTX 480M, the 485M is no longer based on a trimmed down GF100 chip, but on the related GF104 instead. The GF104 is designed for the consumer sector and has a total of 384 cores. A number of cores may be disabled, for example the 470M with only 288 active cores.

The technology of the GF104 differs quite a bit from the GF100 chip (which was actually designed for professional use). The GF104 has more shaders (3x16 vs. 2x16), texture units (8 vs. 4) and SFUs (Special-Funciton-Units) per Streaming-Multiprocessors (SM). Nvidia now uses the superscalar architecture as there are still only two warp schedulers supporting three shader blocks. In theory, this helps to utilize the shaders more efficiently and increases the performance per core.

However, in the worst case, the performance can drop below the GF100 architecture (and its predecessors). The ECC memory protection, important in professional applications, was completely omitted and the FP64 was trimmed down (only 1/3 of the shaders are FP64-capable, only 1/12 of the FP32 performance). Because of these reductions in the GF104, the size of a SM increased only by 25% despite the higher number of shaders.

Note that it is not possible to directly compare the number of cores to the AMD Radeon graphics cards (e.g. HD 5870) or even to Nvidia's own predecessors (e.g., G92b), because shader architecture and clock rates are significantly different in the GF104 chip.

Performance

In our extensive test of the GeForce GTX 485M, we found that the GTX485M is significantly faster than the old GeForce GTX 480M (at the same TDP rating). The performance is on a level with two GeForce GTX 460M in SLI mode. Nearly all games are therefore playable in highest details and resolutions. Even demanding games like Mafia 2 or Battlefield Bad Company 2 can run fluently in 1080p with maximus detail settings. Detailed benchmarks can be found at the end of this page.

Features

What's new compared to the GF100 is support for Bitstream transfer of HD Audio (Blu-Ray) via HDMI in the GF104 chips. Similar to the HD 5850, the GTX 485M can transmit Dolby True HD and DTS-HD via Bitstream to compatible receivers without quality loss.

For decoding HD videos, the GTX485M supports PureVideo HD. The built-in Processor 4 (VP4) handles Feature Set C. As a result, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2 (MPEG-4 ASP - z.B. DivX or Xvid), VC-1/WMV9 and H.264 can be fully decoded by the graphics card (VLD, IDCT, Motion Compensation, and Deblocking). Furthermore, two streams can be simultaneously decoded in realtime, e.g. Blu-Ray Picture-in-Picture (2x1080p lt DXVAChecker). In addition, PureVideo HD indicates HDCP encoding for digital interfaces.

The shader cores (also called CUDA cores) can also be used for general computations (e.g. Video Transcoding) by using the interfaces CUDA, DirectCompute 2.1 or OpenCL. Thanks to PhysX, the 485M can also perform physics calculations.

According to Nvidia, the support for 3D Vision includes support for the recent HDMI 1.4a standard as well. If enabled by the laptop manufacturer, content such as 3D games, 3D web streaming videos, 3D pictures and 3D Blu-Ray videos can be displayed on a 3D-capable TV (via discrete 3DTV Play) or on the internal notebook 3D display.

With regards to energy demand, the GTX 485M should be on par with the GeForce GTX 480M. In other words, both graphics cards should draw about 100 Watts each when including their respective memory and MXM boards. Due to the higher performance from the 485M, the performance/power efficiency here has clearly been improved.

Compared to desktop graphics cards, the performance of the 485M should be on par with a GeForce GTX 460 768MB which features less cores but operates on higher clock rates.

GeForce GTX 400M Series

GeForce GTX 485M SLI compare 768 @ 0.58 GHz256 Bit @ 1500 MHz
GeForce GTX 470M SLI compare 576 @ 0.54 GHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 480M SLI compare 704 @ 0.43 GHz256 Bit @ 1200 MHz
GeForce GTX 460M SLI compare 384 @ 0.68 GHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 485M 384 @ 0.58 GHz256 Bit @ 1500 MHz
GeForce GTX 470M compare 288 @ 0.54 GHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 480M compare 352 @ 0.43 GHz256 Bit @ 1200 MHz
GeForce GTX 460M compare 192 @ 0.68 GHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
CodenameN12E-GTX-A1
ArchitectureFermi
Pipelines384 - unified
Core Speed575 MHz
Shader Speed1150 MHz
Memory Speed1500 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Shared Memoryno
APIDirectX 11, Shader 5.0
Power Consumption100 Watt
technology40 nm
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement06.01.2010

Benchmarks

3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Score
min: 2891     avg: 2942     median: 2942 (4%)     max: 2993 Points
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance GPU
min: 2668     avg: 2709     median: 2709 (2%)     max: 2750 Points
3DMark Vantage
3DM Vant. Perf. total +
3DM Vant. Perf. GPU no PhysX +
3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 +
3DMark 06
min: 17852     avg: 19465     median: 19877.5 (26%)     max: 20251 Points
SPECviewperf 11
specvp11 snx-01 +
specvp11 tcvis-02 +
specvp11 sw-02 +
specvp11 proe-05 +
specvp11 maya-03 +
specvp11 lightwave-01 +
specvp11 ensight-04 +
specvp11 catia-03 +
Cinebench R10 Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) +
Cinebench R11.5 Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit +
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance

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 detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Crysis 2

Crysis 2

2011
low 800x600
166.6  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
117.5  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
87.8  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
30.3  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
low 800x600
74.3  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
84.2  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
72.7 77.5 ~ 75 fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
71.4 74.2 ~ 73 fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Fifa 11

Fifa 11

2010
low 800x600
455  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
327  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
271  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
196.9  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Mafia 2

Mafia 2

2010
low 800x600
97.9  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
90.8  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
85.1 87.3 ~ 86 fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
58.3 59.2 ~ 59 fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
low 1024x768
220.9  fps    + Compare
med. 1360x768
85.9  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
85.2  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
56.5  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
low 800x600
116.2  fps    + Compare
med. 1360x768
80.8  fps    + Compare
high 1600x900
48.1  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
16.1  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
med. 1366x768
134.5  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
100.4 101.5 ~ 101 fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
49.5 53.5 ~ 52 fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
low 800x600
223.7  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
130.9  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
118.4  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
76.3  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen

Risen

2009
low 800x600
160.3  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
99.9  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
72.6  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
52.7  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5

2009
low 800x600
140  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
96.9  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Need for Speed Shift

Need for Speed Shift

2009
low 800x600
141.9  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
106.9  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
100.1  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
70.7  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2

Colin McRae: DIRT 2

2009
low 800x600
159.9  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
138.8  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
124.1 124.8 ~ 124 fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
69.7 70.3 ~ 70 fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Anno 1404

Anno 1404

2009
low 1024x768
214.2  fps    + Compare
ultra 1280x1024
83.3  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
F.E.A.R. 2

F.E.A.R. 2

2009
low 800x600
271.6  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
182.7  fps    + Compare
high 1280x1024
153.5  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
88.5  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto

GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto

2008
low 800x600
65.5  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
63.9  fps    + Compare
high 1280x1024
62  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2

2008
low 640x480
192.8  fps    + Compare
high 1024x768
141.4  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
68.3  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Supreme Commander - FA Bench

Supreme Commander - FA Bench

2007
med. 1024x768
81.7  fps    + Compare
high 1024x768
78.9  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
59.9  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Crysis - GPU Benchmark

Crysis - GPU Benchmark

2007
low 1024x768
135.6  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
88.1  fps    + Compare
high 1024x768
74.2  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
22.6  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
lowmed.highultraQHD4K
Crysis 2166.6117.587.830.3
Call of Duty: Black Ops74.384.27573
Fifa 11455327271196.9
Mafia 297.990.88659
StarCraft 2220.985.985.256.5
Metro 2033116.280.848.1216.1
Battlefield: Bad Company 2134.510152
CoD Modern Warfare 2223.7130.9118.476.3
Risen160.399.972.652.7
Resident Evil 514096.9
Need for Speed Shift141.9106.9100.170.7
Colin McRae: DIRT 2159.9138.812470
Anno 1404214.283.3
F.E.A.R. 2271.6182.7153.588.5
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto65.563.962
Left 4 Dead184.3121.6
Far Cry 2192.8141.468.3
Supreme Commander - FA Bench81.778.959.9
Crysis - GPU Benchmark135.688.174.222.56
< 30 fps
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Notebook reviews with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M graphics card

 

Review Schenker XMG P501 Gaming-Notebook (Clevo P150HM)

Gamers dream. Schenker presents a compact 15 incher, called XMG P501. It includes the currently strongest available mobile hardware owing to Nvidia's GTX 485M G...
Intel Core i7-2630QM | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M | 15.60" | 3.2 kg
 

Review Nvidia Geforce GTX 485M graphics card

Chart Topper In developing the Fermi architecture last year Nvidia topped ATI/AMD, whose HD 5870 was the leading single-core GPU before. Right at the launch of ...
Intel Core i7-2920XM | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M | 15.60" | 3.2 kg

Rock Xtreme 786-I7-2630: Intel Core i7-2630QM, 17.30", 3.9 kg
  External Review » Rock Xtreme 786-I7-2630

Maingear Titan 17: Intel Core i7-990X EE, 17.30", 5.5 kg
  External Review » Maingear Titan 17

AVADirect Clevo P150HM: Intel Core i7-2720QM, 15.60", 2.7 kg
  External Review » AVADirect Clevo P150HM

Maingear eX-L 15: Intel Core i7-2720QM, 15.60", 3.1 kg
  External Review » Maingear eX-L 15

Kobalt G150: Intel Core i7-2630QM, 15.60", 3.1 kg
  External Review » Kobalt G150

AVADirect Clevo P170HM: Intel Core i7-2720QM, 17.30", 3.9 kg
  External Review » AVADirect Clevo P170HM

SCHENKER XMG P501: Intel Core i7-2630QM, 15.60", 3.2 kg
  External Review » mySN XMG P501

  External Review » mySN XMG P501

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Class 0

Arc A380

Class 1

Class 2

Radeon PRO W6600M *

Class 3

UHD Graphics 32EUs
UHD Graphics 750

Class 4

Class 5

* Approximate position of the graphics adapter