GeForce GTX 480M: AVADirect’s W880CU Is Packing The Heat

Features
By Thomas Soderstrom
published

With the launch of its GeForce GTX 480M, Nvidia’s Fermi architecture takes center stage in high-end gaming notebooks. But is the notoriously-hot GPU able to compete against AMD's Mobility Radeon HD 5870? AVADirect gives us the answer with its new W880CU.

Benchmark Results: DiRT 2

The challenge in comparing different generations of graphics technology in DiRT 2 is that DX10 hardware automatically reverts to DX9 rendering, resulting in a drastic reduction in GPU load. The only “proper” way to compare today’s cards to the G92-based GeForce GTX 285M is with all configurations set to DX9 mode. Of course, most buyers would never do that. For this reason, we’ve tested both DX9 and DX11 modes on today’s DX11 mobile graphics hardware.

While every solution looks great in DX9 mode, the GeForce GTX 480M is the only mobile solution to keep its head above water (40 FPS average) in DX11 mode when using the panel’s native 1920x1080 resolution.

We suggest staying home with the desktop to anyone who simply must have a DiRT 2 fix at Ultra Quality and 4x MSAA.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
53 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bin1127
    It plays Crysis!
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    ....all of these notebooks must be plugged into a power outlet before gaming commences.
    I think that sums it up.
    Reply
  • Lmeow
    Portable vasectomy!
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    LmeowPortable vasectomy!LOL +1
    Reply
  • xyzionz
    Quite a surprise on the power consumption...
    Reply
  • sprunth
    That's a crazy heat pipe setup...

    Agree on the naming thing on the last page, that would be helpful.
    Reply
  • Maziar
    Great review.
    Before its launch,it was rumored that it will have a much higher power consumption than 5870M, but now it seems they are close
    Reply
  • "Notice that the component on the left uses both fans and has two-thirds the total number of heat pipes" Ummmmm if I'm looking at the picture correctly the GPU and the majority of the heat pipes are on the Right, you may want to retype that.
    Reply
  • are there no temperatures for gpu in article or i missed it?
    Reply
  • Plyro109
    The funny thing is, AMD actually DID use the naming scheme you like in their LAST generation of mobile GPU's. The Mobility 4850 matched the standard 4850's number of stream processors, albeit with lower clock speeds. Same with the Mobility 4870 and Mobility 4870x2.

    They changed it in response to Nvidia's naming scheme, which is a shame. I liked the matching of desktop/laptop performance to names, too. :/
    Reply