Nvidia Releases Four New Mobile GPUs

Nvidia took the chance at the opening day at CeBit in Hanover to introduce four new mobile GPUs that will cover a range of notebook price points and forms.

The new line is comprised of the GeForce GTX 280M and 260M GPUs for enthusiast notebooks; and GeForce GTS 160M and 150M GPUs are for the more mainstream, less graphic-centric notebooks. Both levels of chips utilize Nvidia’s G92 graphics core manufactured on a 55-nm process.

The star of the mobile line-up is undoubtedly the GeForce GTX 280M, which Nvidia promises up to 50 percent more performance than the GeForce 9800M GTX. And if a single GTX 280M isn’t hardcore enough, two can be paired together in SLI to nearly double the graphics performance over a single GPU.

The GeForce GTX 280M features 128 cores, while the GeForce GTX 260M gives is a small step down at with 112 cores. The 100M series don’t compare in graphical performance with half as many cores as the 200M line.

While notebooks with such graphics power aren’t likely to be road warrior weapons, the new GPUs feature Nvidia’s HybridPower technology to power down the discrete graphics chip and transfer the duties to the IGP to lower heat production and increase battery life.

As with the other Nvidia GPUs, the ones introduced today also feature CUDA and have support for PhysX physics acceleration.

ASUS, Clevo and MSI are all showing notebooks based on the new GeForce GTX 200M and GeForce GTS 100M Series GPUs at CeBit, though release dates and pricing are still unknown.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • hellwig
    Yikes, GeForce GTX 280M, with a G92 core? This thing is no where near a GeForce GTX 280, but the only naming difference is the M. As if the GTX 250 naming wasn't bad enough, they name their mobile chipset even worse.

    I think everyone knows mobile chipsets are no where near as powerful as desktop chipsets, but seriously, naming it the 280M is just going to cause trouble. If the mobile and desktop chipsets aren't comparable, why even bother naming them the same? Why don't they take their mobile chipset off the GeForce line? It would make more sense to have different lines for completely different markets. Name it the MForce or something to reduce confusion.
    Reply
  • tipoo
    So where are these GT120's listed on the new mac pro?
    Reply
  • A Stoner
    Noooo, seriously using the G92 for GTX 280 name? I am starting to HATE nVidia, and they have been my GPU forever.
    Reply
  • scarpa
    hellwigYikes, GeForce GTX 280M, with a G92 core? This thing is no where near a GeForce GTX 280
    Same old gpu.
    Reply
  • thedipper
    It really looks like nvidia's latest graphics chip line is either way behind or not yet existant. They're renaming old crap to get sales in, tisk tisk.
    Reply
  • megabuster
    Would it be fair for us as consumers to know what comperable desktop performance we would get from a mobile GPU? Meaning why don't mobile VGA actually state Geforce 9600GT instead of Geforce 280M? Because that is the performance you are looking at with the mobile gpu.
    Reply
  • liemfukliang
    In a notebook they can not rename the high end part to be a mainstream part with mainstream price. It is the power and the heat that make hi end vga doesn't feed the need for mid end vga. It is better if they create new core that optimize notebook.
    Reply
  • megabuster
    In a notebook they can not rename the high end part to be a mainstream part with mainstream price.
    I am not asking for a mainstream price for the 280M. I am just asking for VGA company to tell us what gaming experience will one get compared to a desktop videocard. That is all. Because the way they named mobile videocard implies that you are getting a performance of Geforce 280 but in a laptop form. So if 280M performs as 9600GT(desktop) then label it the same way but charge what ever you want its not like you can upgrade yourself.
    Reply
  • average joe
    I posted about the gx250 yesterday and was cautiously optimistic that they were not trying to pull a fast one on the consumer. This time I am not so optimistic. The G92 based mobile graphics solution being call a gx280m is completely dishonest. I am aware that the economy is bad but this is unacceptable and will definitely come back to bite them. When will companies quit thinking only short term? Is it all because executives get quarterly bonus's? Say goodbye to Nvidia folks.
    Reply