Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (990M) for notebooks may be based on the desktop GTX 980
It was Wu Haijun, CEO of Chinese manufacturer Hasee, who likely upset Nvidia with the early announcement of a GeForce GTX 990M. According to his statements, the new super chip is even supposed to reach the performance level of a GTX 980M SLI, which would roughly mean twice the performance of the current GTX 980M. Shortly after the sly reveal, hints of the supposed "NVIDIA E-GXX" codename began surfacing.
Notebookcheck now has information from independent industry insiders who all say that the chip will have the codename "N16E-GXX" and will be based on the Maxwell GM204 architecture -- Just like the current GTX 980. The TDP for the chip is supposed to be variable between 100 up to 185+ Watts, so notebook manufacturers can design their respective cooling systems accordingly for a target performance level. Standard MXM solutions are not very probable due to the high power consumption and cooling requirements, so it will probably be soldered directly onto the mainboard.
Update 08/19/2015: We now have new information from reliable sources that, among others, also include manufacturers with the first notebooks that use the N16E-GXX chip. Laptops from Asus, MSI, Clevo, Lenovo and also Acer are supposed to be in the final certification process of the GPU manufacturer Nvidia. Considering the previously mentioned GPU TDP bandwidth between 100 up to 185 Watts, only large notebook designs should be able to accommodate the mobile version of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980.
This means Asus will probably offer another version of the G751 (here in review with the GTX 980M). The notebook did at least not have any issues with the GTX 980M. The design seems to have some headroom for a faster GPU with up to 82 °C in the stress test, especially since the cooling solution can still be adjusted.
MSI currently offers two platforms that could be used for the new GPU. For starters obviously the GT80 (here in review with the GTX 980M SLI), which should have more than enough headroom for the N16E-GXX chip (even with the maximum TDP) when you consider the current maximum equipment (GTX 980M SLI - TDP around 200 Watts). It might also be possible with the MSI GT72, which can currently be equipped with a GTX 980M and also cool it quite efficiently.
The barebone manufacturer Clevo (Schenker XMG, for example) has some potential chassis designs like the P77x-series, which is currently available with desktop CPUs and also GPUs up to the GTX 980M. Or a version of the heavier P370-series, which can also accommodate current SLI configurations.
Acer will probably use the Predator Gaming Notebooks that were already announced. There are no official specifications yet, but chassis and concept seem to be ready for the GTX 980.
It gets interesting in the case of Lenovo. The manufacturer offers two gaming notebooks with the IdeaPad Y50 and the IdeaPad Y70, but the best configurations are only equipped with the GeForce GTX 960M and it might not be possible to use the high-end graphics chip in such a compact chassis. This means we can speculate about a new high-end gaming laptop from Lenovo that could compete with devices like the G751, GT72 and so on...
A current desktop GTX 980 with a TDP of 165 Watts manages around 76 % of the performance level of a GeForce GTX 980M SLI system (based on 3DMark 13 Firestrike scores), so the performance of this new chip may be further augmented with overclocking features and the aforementioned dynamic TDP bandwidth. The new information also complies with the first Hasee leak, so we believe them to be very credible.
| 3DMark - 1920x1080 Fire Strike Score (sort by value) | |
| MSI GT80-2QES32SR311BW | |
| Desktop-PC | |
| Asus G751JY | |
| Eurocom P7 Pro | |
| 3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU (sort by value) | |
| MSI GT80-2QES32SR311BW | |
| Desktop-PC | |
| Asus G751JY | |
| Eurocom P7 Pro | |
A bit confusing, however, is the designation of the new mobile GPU. While the first leaks always mentioned a GeForce GTX 990M or a GTX 980Mti, the new rumors speak about a GeForce GTX 980 (without -M!) – for notebooks.
The price of the new chip should be higher than the current GeForce GTX 980M, and the first estimates even suggest that the manufacturers will have to pay twice the price of a regular GTX 980M. The launch could already be by the end of this September.
Source(s)
