NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M is a DirectX 11 graphics card of the middle class. It is based on the Kepler architecture and manufactured by TSMC in a 28-nanometer process. In addition to an older version with the GK107 chip (384 shader, 128 bit memory), there also exist models with the new GK208 (384 shader, 64 bit memory). Both versions use DDR3 memory.

Architecture

Both GK107 and GK208 are based on the Kepler architecture and offer two shader blocks, called SMX, each with 192 shaders for a total of 384 shader cores. The shaders are clocked at the same speed as the rest of the chip. Although more shader cores are available in the Kepler architecture as compared to the Fermi design, the Kepler shaders are much more efficient. However, due to the missing hot clock of the shader domain, two shaders of a Kepler chip are as fast as one shader of a Fermi chip even though Fermi shaders are clocked at twice the speed.

PCIe 3.0 is now supported by the mobile Kepler series and an optional Turbo mode can automatically overclock the Nvidia card by a theoretical 15 percent if the laptop cooling system allows it. This feature is available on any notebook with a graphics card of the 700M series.

Performance

The gaming performance of the GK107 version is on the same level or slightly above an average GT 645M, or about 10 - 15 percent below the GT 650M. Therefore, demanding games (as of 2013) like Battlefield 3, Bioshock Infinite, or Tomb Raider are playable in 1366x768 resolution and medium settings. Less demanding games like Diablo III can be played fluently with maxed out settings at full HD resolution settings. The GK208 version, however, performs significantly worse and is sometimes even below the GT 640M. Still, the performance depends on the core clock and the GPU Boost 2.0. Detailed benchmarks can be found further down on this page.

Features

The improved feature set now includes support for up to 4 active displays. Furthermore, high resolution monitors of up to 3840x2160 pixels can now 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 GK107 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 via the NVENCI API.

The power consumption of the GeForce GT 730M should be similar to the GT 640M or possibly slightly less. As a result, the Nvidia GPU is best suited for multimedia notebooks 14-inches in size or greater.

GeForce GT 700M Series GeForce GT 755M SLI 768 @ 0.98 GHz 2x 128 Bit @ 5400 MHz GeForce GT 750M SLI 768 @ 0.97 GHz 2x 128 Bit @ 2000 - 5000 MHz GeForce GT 755M 384 @ 0.98 GHz 128 Bit @ 5400 MHz GeForce GT 750M 384 @ 0.97 GHz 128 Bit @ 2000 - 5000 MHz GeForce GT 745M 384 @ 0.84 GHz 128 Bit @ 1800 MHz GeForce GT 740M 384 @ 0.81 - 0.98 GHz 64/128 Bit @ 1600 - 1800 MHz GeForce GT 735M 384 @ 0.58 - 0.89 GHz 64 Bit @ 1800 - 2000 MHz GeForce GT 730M 384 @ 0.73 GHz 64/128 Bit @ 1800 - 2000 MHz GeForce GT 720M 96 @ 0.63 - 0.94 GHz 64 Bit @ 1800 - 2000 MHz
Architecture	Kepler
Pipelines	384 - unified
Core Speed	725 MHz
Memory Speed	1800 - 2000 MHz
Memory Bus Width	64/128 Bit
Memory Type	DDR3
Max. Amount of Memory	4 GB
Shared Memory	no
API	DirectX 11, Shader 5.0
technology	28 nm
Features	Optimus, PhysX, Verde Drivers, CUDA, 3D Vision, 3DTV Play
Notebook Size	medium sized
Date of Announcement	01.01.2013

Benchmarks