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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M SLI

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M SLI

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M SLI is a high-end laptop graphics solution based on two GTX 485M graphics cards. With SLI, each card usually renders a single frame (AFR mode). Therefore, it may suffer from micro stuttering in low fps ranges of 30fps. This happens because of different timespans between two frames (e.g. irregular delays between sequential frames).

The GeForce GTX485M SLI supports the same features as a single GTX 485M card. Therefore, it supports DirectX 11 and is produced in a 40nm fabrication process at TSMC. 

Unlike the GeForce GTX 480M, the 485M is no longer based on a trimmed down GF100 core, but on the GF104 core instead. The latter has been designed for the consumer sector and has 384 cores maximum if completely enabled. More information on the GF104 core can be found on the GTX 485M page.  

The performance of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 485M SLI is clearly better than the GTX 480M SLI and is therefore the fastest graphics solution for laptops as of early 2011. It allows the user to play all current games in high resolutions and detail settings with Antialiasing activated. Only Metro 2033 and Crysis may stutter with high Antialiasing and maximum details. Compared to a single GTX 485M, the performance from the SLI combination should be about 40% higher on average (with high details and Antialiasing). Compared to Crossfire solutions by AMD, the Nvdia SLI drivers have the advantage as of this writing.

As the GeForce 300M series, the GeForce GTX 485M supports PureVideo HD with VideoProcessor 4 (VP4 with Feature Set C). This means that the GPU is able to fully decode HD videos in H.254, VC-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 ASP. Using Flash 10.1, the graphics card can also accelerate Flash videos.

What's new in the GF104 chips compared to the GF100 (480M) is the support for Bitstream transfer of HD Audio (Blu-Ray) via HDMI. Similar to the HD 5850, the GTX 485M can transmit Dolby True HD and DTS-HD via Bitstream to compatible receivers without quality loss.

The rendering cores of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 485M can be used for general calculations using CUDA or DirectCompute. In other words, the encoding for HD videos can be done significantly faster by using the shader cores of the GPUs instead of using modern CPUs. PhysX is also supported by the mobile Fermi to calculate physics effects in supported games. Furthermore, a single GTX485M can be used to calculate PhysX while the other card can render frames in the SLI setup.

Compared to desktop GPUs, the Geforce GTX 485M SLI is most similar to two Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 cards running in an SLI configuration.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce GTX 400M Series
GeForce GTX 485M SLI 768 @ 575 MHz256 Bit @ 1500 MHz
GeForce GTX 470M SLI (compare) 576 @ 535 MHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 480M SLI (compare) 704 @ 425 MHz256 Bit @ 1200 MHz
GeForce GTX 460M SLI (compare) 384 @ 675 MHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 485M (compare) 384 @ 575 MHz256 Bit @ 1500 MHz
GeForce GTX 470M (compare) 288 @ 535 MHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
GeForce GTX 480M (compare) 352 @ 425 MHz256 Bit @ 1200 MHz
GeForce GTX 460M (compare) 192 @ 675 MHz192 Bit @ 1250 MHz
CodenameN11E-GTX-A1
ArchitectureFermi
Pipelines768 - unified
Core Speed575 MHz
Shader Speed1150 MHz
Memory Speed1500 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory2x2048 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 11, Shader 5.0
technology40 nm
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement06.01.2011
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_gtx...

Benchmarks

3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
5468 points (18%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720
5334 points (10%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   - Hide comparison chart
3DMark Vantage
P Result 1280x1024 +
P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024 +
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
87591 Points (46%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
29690 Points (57%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark 06 Standard 1280x1024 +
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024
78.5 fps (35%)
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11
Siemens NX 1920x1080 +
Tcvis 1920x1080 +
SolidWorks 1920x1080 +
Pro/ENGINEER 1920x1080 +
Maya 1920x1080 +
Lightwave 1920x1080 +
Ensight 1920x1080 +
Catia 1920x1080 +
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
7.5 points (107%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
7.5 points (107%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Cinebench R10 Shading 32Bit +
Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit +
- 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.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops

2010
low 800x600
167  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
125.1  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
128.4  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
119  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Fifa 11

Fifa 11

2010
low 800x600
637.8  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
426.6  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
307.3  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
199.2  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Mafia 2

Mafia 2

2010
low 800x600
145.3  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
139.5  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
132.4  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
102.2  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
StarCraft 2

StarCraft 2

2010
low 1024x768
323.8  fps    + Compare
med. 1360x768
105.3  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
94.8  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
65.9  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Metro 2033

Metro 2033

2010
low 800x600
149.6  fps    + Compare
med. 1360x768
141  fps    + Compare
high 1600x900
89.4  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
31.4  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

2010
low 1024x768
198.2  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
192.4  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
168.6  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
96.8  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
CoD Modern Warfare 2

CoD Modern Warfare 2

2009
low 800x600
361.4  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
212.5  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
190.1  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
142  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen

Risen

2009
low 800x600
189.2  fps    + Compare
med. 1024x768
157.5  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
142.7  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
109.1  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5

2009
low 800x600
202.6  fps    + Compare
high 1360x768
143.7  fps    + Compare