NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M is a high-end DirectX 12-compatible graphics card for laptops unveiled in March 2014. Similar to the GTX 780M, it is based on the 28 nm GK104 chip (Kepler architecture), but features a higher core clock rate. As of spring 2014, it is the fastest laptop graphics card on the market.

Architecture

The Kepler architecture is the successor to the Fermi architecture that first appeared in laptops with the GeForce 400M series. The GK104 Kepler core offers eight shader blocks, called SMX, that are clocked at the same speed as the central core. In the GTX 880M, all eight blocks are active for a total of 1536 CUDA cores and 128 TMUs. The chip can access up to 8 GB of GDDR5 memory connected via a 256-bit interface.

Performance

Due to the higher core clock, the computing power has been increased by about 15 percent compared to the GeForce GTX 780M. However, the memory bandwidth stagnates, so the average performance gain is lessened. Our benchmarks show an increase of about 10 percent, making the GTX 880M the fastest mobile graphics card as of spring 2014. The GPU has enough power to run demanding games of 2013/2014 fluently with Full HD resolution and maxed out graphical settings.

Features

The feature set includes support for up to 4 active displays. Furthermore, high resolution monitors of up to 3840x2160 pixels can be connected using DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a (if available). HD-Audio codecs, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, can be transmitted via bitstream mode through the HDMI port. However, as most laptops will feature Optimus, the integrated GPU will likely have direct control over the display ports and may limit the feature set available by the Nvidia Kepler cards.

The 5th generation PureVideo HD video processor (VP5) is also integrated in the GK104 core and offers hardware decoding of HD videos. Common codecs such as MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264 and VC1/WMV9 are fully supported up to 4K resolutions while VC1 and MPEG-4 are supported up to 1080p. Two streams can be decoded in parallel for features such as Picture-in-Picture. Another novelty is the inclusion of a dedicated video encoding engine similar to Intel QuickSync that can be accessed by the NVENC API.

New features of the GTX 800M series include Battery Boost (longer battery life while playing games), Shadowplay (recording of in-game videos) and Game Stream (stream PC games on the Nvidia Shield console).

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the GeForce GTX 880M should be similar or slightly above the GTX 780M, leading to a TDP of more than 100 W. Therefore, only large desktop replacements can support the power demands of the GTX 880M.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 7

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 is an integrated GPU for notebooks. It is used in the Ryzen 4000 and Ryzen 5000 mobile APUs. The GPU is based on the Vega architecture (5th generation GCN) and has 7 CUs (= 448 shaders) clocked at up to 1,800 MHz. The iGPU's performance depends on the TDP of an APU (15, 35, 45 W or cTDP), the clocks, the cooling, and the memory configuration). The GPU should benefit from fast dual-channel DDR4-3200 RAM (contrary to DDR4-2133 single-channel, which is also possible).

The Vega architecture offers some improvements over the Polaris generation and now supports DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_1. More information is available in our dedicated article about the Raven Ridge architecture.

The performance should be slightly lower than the older RX Vega 8 GPU (1 CU more, but lower clock speed). That means, only some demanding games of 2019 will run in lowest detail settings. Less demanding games like Fifa 20 or Dirt Rally 2.0 should run in higher settings and 1920 x 1080.

Thanks to the 7 nm process and clever power-saving features, the power consumption is comparatively low (according to AMD), so the iGPU won't look out of place in a slimmer, lighter laptop.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 is an integrated GPU for notebooks. It is used for the Ryzen 7 APUs of the Renoir generation (Ryzen 4000 Mobile) and Cezanne (Ryzen 5000 Mobile). The GPU is based on the Vega architecture (5th generation GCN) and has 8 CUs (= 512 of the 704 shaders) clocked at up to 1,750 MHz (Ryzen 7 4800U) or 2,100 MHz (Ryzen 9 5980HX). The performance depends on the configured TDP (12-25 W at launch), the clocks, the cooling, and the memory configuration). The GPU should benefit from fast dual-channel DDR4-3200 RAM (contrary to DDR4-2133 single-channel, which is also possible). Compared to the similar Radeon RX Vega 8 in the Raven Ridge generation (Ryzen 2000 Mobile), the GPU is clocked significantly higher (1.750 versus 1.100 MHz Boost, +59%).

The Vega architecture offers some improvements over the Polaris generation and now supports DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_1. More information is available in our dedicated article about the Raven Ridge architecture.

The performance is clearly faster than the old RX Vega 8 thanks to the higher clock speed and faster main memory (if used). Still it is positioned in the entry level (compared to dedicated graphics cards) and only suited for low demanding games.

Thanks to the modern 7nm process and clever power-saving features, the power consumption is comparatively low (according to AMD), so the graphics card can also be used for slim and light notebooks.