NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with the Max-Q design is a mobile high-end GPU from the Pascal series. It is designed for thin and light laptops and about 10-15% slower than a regular GTX 1060 for laptops based on the cooling capabilities. The base frequency (1063-1265 MHz) is also much lower than on the regular GTX 1060 (1506 MHz, at least -16%) and the Boost (1341-1480 MHz) is also much lower compared to 1708 MHz (at least -13%) for the regular GTX 1060. The memory clock, however, is identical.

The clock is not the only difference compared to the regular GTX 1060 though. The drivers for the Max-Q version were optimized for efficiency (and not performance; only for Max-Q models), there are optimized voltage converters for 1V operation, high-end cooling methods, and a 40 dB limit for the fan noise (with clock adjustments to ensure this at all times).

Features

The GP106 chip is produced in 16nm FinFET at TSMC and offers a range of new features, like DisplayPort 1.4 (ready), HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and improved H.265 video de- and encoding (PlayReady 3.0). A list of improvements and features can be found in our article on the Pascal architecture.

The power consumption of the Max-Q design is notably lower than the normal GTX 1060 for laptops and ranges between 60 and 70 Watt (TGP) according to Nvidia.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 for laptops (formerly known as GTX 1080M) is the mobile counterpart of the desktop GeForce GTX 1080. It uses the same GP104 chip and was officially announced at 16. August. The performance should be around +-10% of a non overclocked desktop GTX 1080. The amount of shaders and other technical specifications should be identical.

The mobile GTX1080 is the successor to the GeForce GTX 980 for Laptops and offers a significantly higher performance at the same TDP.

For thin and light laptops Nvidia offer a Max-Q called version of the GTX 1080 with lower TDP and also significantly lower performance. Sadly this variant im sold with the same GTX 1080 name, making it hard to judge the performance.

The performance depends on the used thermal headroom, processor and game. In our benchmarks the mobile GTX 1080 was between 0 to 10 percent slower than the desktop GTX 1080. Therefore, the card also allows gaming in 4k for modern and demanding games of 2017. However, the performance depends on the cooling and TDP settings in each laptop. E.g. the MSI GT73VR (200 W TDP) is much faster than the 1080 in the Razer Blade Pro (<=150 W).

The GP104 chip is manufactured in 16nm FinFET process at TSMC and offers a range of new features. DisplayPort 1.4 (ready), HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP), improved H.265 video en- and decoders (for PlayReady 3.0) are only some of the improvements. See our detailed Pascal architecture article for more details.

Due to the high TDP, the mobile GTX 1080 is only suited for large laptops with high performance cooling solutions. The power consumption is ranging from 150 to 200 Watt (according to Nvidia, up to 220 W in the Asus G701VIK, G800, GX800). A low power version (Max-Q) is available beginning summer 2017 with a reduced TGP of 90 - 110 Watt (at a reduced performance).

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 with Max-Q design is a mainstream GPU based on the Pascal architecture and was announced in January 2018. Contrary to the faster models, the GTX 1050 uses the GP107 chip, which is manufactured in a 14 nm process at Samsung.

The clock is not the only difference compared to the regular GTX 1050 though. The drivers for the Max-Q version were optimized for efficiency (and not performance; only for Max-Q models), there are optimized voltage converters for 1V operation, high-end cooling methods, and a 40 dB limit for the fan noise (with clock adjustments to ensure this at all times).

Features

The GP107 chip is manufactured in a 14 nm FinFET process at Samsung and offers a number of new features, including support for DisplayPort 1.4 (ready), HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) as well as improved H.265 video de- and encoding (PlayReady 3.0). A full list of improvements and the new Pascal desktop GPUs is available in our dedicated Pascal architecture article.

Performance

The performance of the GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q should be around 10-15 % below a regular GTX 1050 for laptops. This means the GPU is most suited for full HD gaming at high settings (not maximum).

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q is rated at 34 to 40 Watt and therefore significantly lower than the normal laptop GTX 1050 (53 Watt). Therefore, the Max-Q variant is also suited for thin and light laptops.