Fermi Heading to Laptops With GTX 480M?

By Marcus Yam
published

Early listing shows a powerful and power-hungry discrete GPU option.

It's just the natural evolution of a GPU to eventually be converted for notebook use, and now we see early evidence that Nvidia will be making a mobile version of Fermi ready for sometime next month.

A listing on Eurocom's site for configuration of one of its laptops lists a 2GB DDR5 GTX 480M Nvidia DX11 100W part as a $380 upgrade option. Since then, the option has been removed from the site, likely due to the fact that it's an unannounced product.

Of course, an Nvidia partner listing a product prematurely is no means a confirmation for the product – but this does offer some hope for those waiting for a new-generation Nvidia part for any upcoming notebook purchases.

Marcus Yam
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.
56 Comments Comment from the forums
  • AsianJetlag
    LOL.

    Battery life with Fermi in a laptop: less than windows boot time.

    Why buy a desktop PC in a laptop form factor?
    Reply
  • jerreece
    How far back will they down clock this thing to keep it cool enough inside a laptop?
    Reply
  • sot010174
    Imagine how big the power brick is going to be.
    Reply
  • LATTEH
    Well tbh when are you gonna need a laptop with that much power? last years models would be able to play any game but then they wouldn't have DX11
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    otacon72I predict a whopping 15mins of battery life and burning sensation in my pants as the GPU burns a hole through them.This is true, but at least we know for certain it can play Crysis at 16x AA and 16x AF at 2x1080p...

    Or can it?
    Reply
  • the_krasno
    Battery life doesn't matter to desktop replacement computers, what really matters is how hot the cards get.

    High end laptops with the mobility 5870 run luckwarm, reaching temps slightly above human heat (notebookreview displays it pretty clearly in many product reviews).

    But Fermi runs at almost the boiling point of water. Assuming that the cards are half as hot, it would still be around 50 degrees at your fingertips. Not to mention the fact that it can harm the other parts of the machine because of the lack of real estate for airflow!

    Bad. Idea.
    Reply
  • ehanger
    This is what happens when you try and put fermi in a laptop:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WSPqLKgnQs
    Reply
  • zoemayne
    Even with optimus it seems an under-clocked version of this will consume too much battery power. It doesnt make sense to have a GPU w a higher TDP than a CPU.
    Reply
  • bdcrlsn
    Scary when a lot of today's laptops consume considerably less power than that.
    Reply
  • brett1042002
    For the griller on the go...
    Reply