NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q vs NVIDIA Quadro M1000M vs NVIDIA Quadro M1200

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 Quadro M1000M

The 28nm NVIDIA Quadro M1000M is a mid-range DirectX 12 (FL 11_0) and OpenGL 4.5-compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a 1st generation Maxwell-based GPU built on the GM107 architecture with 512 of the 640 shader cores activated. Therefore, the GPU is not similar to any current consumer card. The Geforce GTX 950M, for example, uses the full 640 shader cores. The Quadro M1000M is built for the Intel Skylake generation as the successor to the Kepler-based Quadro K1100M. The M1000M typically comes with 2 GB GDDR5 VRAM clocked at 1250 MHz (5000 MHz effective at 80 GB/s compared to 44.8 GB/s on the K1100M). 

The Quadro series offers certified drivers that are optimized for stability and performance in professional applications like CAD or DCC. OpenGL performance, for example, should be significantly better compared to GeForce graphics cards of similar specifications.

Performance

As the exact clock speed of the M1000M is still not known, we can only speculate on the performance of the card. However, it is a lower mid-range model from the mobile Quadro line in 2015. It should be slower than the GTX 950M in 3D gaming due to the lower shader count, but should easily outperform the old Quadro K1100M.

Using CUDA (Compute Capability 5.0) or OpenCL 1.2, the cores of the Quadro M1000M can be used for general calculations.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the Quadro M1000M is rated for a 40 Watt TGP including the board and memory components, which is 5 Watt lower than the K1100M. Therefore, the card is suited for 15-inch notebooks and greater.

NVIDIA Quadro M1200

The 28 nm Nvidia Quadro M1200 is a mid-range DirectX 12 (FL 11_0) and OpenGL 4.5-compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a (first generation) Maxwell-based GPU built on the GM107 chip with 640 shader cores. Therefore, the GPU is similar to the consumer Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M. The Quadro M1200M is built for the Intel Skylake generation and is the successor to the Quadro M1000M (950M based).

The Quadro series offers certified drivers that are optimized for stability and performance in professional applications like CAD or DCC. OpenGL performance, for example, should be significantly better compared to GeForce graphics cards of similar specifications.

Performance

The performance of the Quadro M1200 is on a level to the previous generation M2000M which is also based on the 960M. In games it is comparable to the GTX 960M although the driver support is not optimized for gaming.

Using CUDA (Compute Capability 5.0) or OpenCL 1.2, the cores of the Quadro M2000M can be used for general calculations.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the Quadro M1200 is rated for the same TGP of 45 Watt (32.5 Watt TDP) and therefore a bit lower than the M2000M with 55 Watt TGP.