NVIDIA Quadro K500M

The NVIDIA Quadro K500M is an entry-level, DirectX 11.1-compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a Kepler-based GPU built on the GK107 architecture and is manufactured in 28nm at TSMC. Compared to the K2000M, the K500M only features a 64-Bit memory bus and 192 shader cores instead of 384. The Quadro K500M is built for the Intel Chief River generation (Ivy Bridge) and is the successor to the Fermi-based Quadro 1000M (Huron River platform).

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 than GeForce graphics cards of similar specifications.

Architecture

The Kepler architecture is the successor to the Fermi architecture that first appeared in laptops with the GeForce 400M series. The GK107 Kepler core offers two shader blocks, called SMX, each with 192 shaders for a total of 384 shader cores that are clocked at the same speed as the central core. The K500M, however, offers only one SMX with 192 shaders. Although more shader cores are available in the Kepler architecture as compared to the Fermi design, the Kepler shaders are still expected to be up to twice as power efficient. However, due to the missing hot clock of the shader domain, two shaders of a Kepler chip are about as fast as one shader of a Fermi chip (as the latter is clocked twice as fast).

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. The implementation of this boost mode is done in the BIOS, but it is ultimately dependent upon the manufacturer of the laptop.

Performance

The gaming performance should be similar to the consumer GeForce GT 620M.

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 by the NVENC API.

The power consumption of the K500M is rated at 35 Watt (TGP according to Nvidia) and therefore suited for medium-sized notebooks of 15-inches or greater.

Quadro K Series Quadro K5100M 1536 @ 0.77 GHz 256 Bit @ 3600 MHz Quadro K5000M 1344 @ 0.71 GHz 256 Bit @ 3000 MHz Quadro K4100M 1152 @ 0.71 GHz 256 Bit @ 3200 MHz Quadro K4000M 960 @ 0.6 GHz 256 Bit @ 2800 MHz Quadro K3100M 768 @ 0.71 GHz 256 Bit @ 3200 MHz Quadro K3000M 576 @ 0.65 GHz 256 Bit @ 2800 MHz Quadro K2100M 576 @ 0.67 GHz 128 Bit @ 3000 MHz Quadro K1100M 384 @ 0.71 GHz 128 Bit @ 2800 MHz Quadro K620M 384 @ 1.03 - 1.12 GHz 64 Bit @ 2000 MHz Quadro K2000M 384 @ 0.75 GHz 128 Bit @ 1800 MHz Quadro K1000M 192 @ 0.85 GHz 128 Bit @ 1800 MHz Quadro K610M 192 @ 0.95 GHz 64 Bit @ 2600 MHz Quadro K510M 192 @ 0.85 GHz 64 Bit @ 2400 MHz Quadro K500M 192 @ 0.85 GHz 64 Bit @ 1800 MHz
Codename	N14M-Q1
Architecture	Kepler
Pipelines	192 - unified
Core Speed	850 MHz
Memory Speed	1800 MHz
Memory Bus Width	64 Bit
Memory Type	DDR3 / GDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory	2048 MB
Shared Memory	no
API	DirectX 11, Shader 5.0, OpenGL 4.3
Power Consumption	35 Watt
Transistor Count	1.3 Billion
technology	28 nm
Features	Optimus, PhysX, Verde Drivers, CUDA, 3D Vision, 3DTV Play
Notebook Size	medium sized
Date of Announcement	01.06.2012
Information	118mm2, CUDA, OpenCL 1.2, OpenGL 4.3

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