NVIDIA outs 300M mobile graphics series, causes little excitement
By Vlad Savov 
posted January 13th 2010 6:02AM
posted January 13th 2010 6:02AM
posted January 13th 2010 6:02AM
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Yay for selling the same things with different names for higher prices!
@Erb
Ati is not doing any better with the 5000 Series (little performance boost from 4000 series) so i don't know why we are only attacking Nvidia
Ati don't even update their mobile drivers Good luck getting your graphic card drivers from dell/hp/asus/etc, at least Nvidia update their mobile drivers
Again ATI is properly playing around since Nvidia did not release fermi yet the next big battle will be between Fermi vs 5000 Series refresh.
@GoogleCEO No, the 5000 series mobile chips are quite a lot better than the 4000 series and the 200m series from Nvidia.
@SarnGate
5870 their top card is 20% faster than GTX260m
Nvidia rebrands usually are 20% faster than previous card
If you want a real card wait for Fermi vs 5000 Refresh or listen to the fanboys who did down rank me if you think they will pay for your notebook.
@Erb Rebadging is all nvidia has been doing for the last 5 years, 8800 > 9800 > 200 > 300, all 99% the same damn architecture, sure there is a die shrink or two in there but the graphical power has not really increased in that time anywhere near what it had in previous generations.
@GoogleCEO I will agree with you that ATI has left users high and dry with drivers in the past. I would like to point out that a rebrand is just that, a sticker change, nothing else. A rebranded gpu will perform identical to its original. Another bit of misinformation would be the statement that the 5000 series is just a refresh. While the tech is built on the 4000 series it is significantly improved including support for DX11 (which nVidia 300 series does not support as of yet)
I am a user of both ATI and nVidia and will say that nvidia had the top mobile cards for a while, but ATI has really stepped up there game in the last year. Whoever is on top doesn’t matter, what matters is that both companies fight for the top. This is what leads to better products and better prices for the consumer.
@Erb im wet just looking at it
@(Unverified) Yes and the HD2000->HD3000->HD4000->HD5000
All the same damned architecture, just more cores and faster speeds and some small new feature additions.
Don't be selectively blind.
@GoogleCEO
I don't know what you are smoking. ATI's 4870/4890 have 1/2 the number of cores as the 5870 and less than 60% of the performance. This is in addition to all the DirectX11 features and new multi-display gaming technology in the 5xxx series.
You cannot possible compare the ATI 4xxx-5xxx change to the three-time rebranding of Geforce G80/G92-based GPUs ...
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/2937/amd_s_ati_radeon_hd_5870_vs_hd_4890_gpu_comparison/index3.html
Oh i might buy it because the number is higher!
@ClarkyAC No way I'm buying this until they rename it to at least 400!!
would you believe ... 500?
Actually, the geforce GT 335m is pretty decent: as fast as a 9800m GS with 30% less memory bandwith (72 sp, 128 bit bus), but low power enough to fit inside an 11.6" laptop
@fabarati But the M11X is a 11.6" laptop specially designed for the GT335M. It is thicker and heavier than your typical netbook, presumably for the extra cooling required. Nor is a 9800M GS impressive technology these days, especially when ATI's 5xxx-series is coming out with DX11 support.
@fabarati For something really decent take a look at the competition: ATI mobility HD 5830. Faster than the GT335m, same power envelope and DX 11 support. I wish the M11X had that card. And an i7 ULV.
That Envy 15 is tempting...
@YpoCaramel
DX11 support does not mean that its more powerful, it can work with dx11 but what would you do with 5 frames per second on dx11? If you want DX11 you need to buy the upper level cards which by next year will become mid-level dx11 cards. Dont always fall for the DirectX bs, there is a huge difference between compatible and performance.
@munakib I didn't say that it would bring large performance benefits, and I understand the issues. I simply threw it in to demonstrate how the GT335M is technically unimpressive.
@munakib The 5830 is nice, but both the 5830 and the GT335M are 40nm chipsets, I somehow doubt the 800 SP 5830 is going to be comparable to the 72SP GT335M in Thermals.
@YpoCaramel The 335 is as you say technically unimpressive. That’s not the point. The point is sticking a gpu meant for a 15”+ laptop into a sub 12” laptop. That is what is technically impressive. Also, the m11x is not meant to be in direct competition with netbooks as the battery life will attest to. This is a new beast meant for the gamer on the road, I’d say this has more competition in a DS or PSP than a netbook
@robamb2002 At least someone gets my point...
regardless, the 5830 is much faster than the GT335.
The renaming thing is getting pathetic.
ATI's 5870 mobile may only have the same number of SPU's as the 4870 mobile, but it's a brand new chip, NOT a rebrand.
@Aaronage
Agreed. When I saw "NVIDIA outs 300M" in the title, I thought "wow, NVIDIA is releasing mobile Fermi GPUs already," then read the article and got an instant rebranded letdown. Then to make matters even more pathetic, when Fermi GPUs actually release, NVIDIA is probably gonna use the GTX300 naming scheme. Causing confusion among the consumer because the GTX300 series is Fermi while 300M series is not.
There aren't going to be any Fermi-based mobile Geforces. Are you kidding? They'd melt a laptop.
The best you can hope for in a "GTX" chip is another, higher-clocked, G92.
@FuturePastNow
maybe they called it the G92 cos they've planned 92 rebrands of the same old crap.
@FuturePastNow G92 isn't being used anymore, these are all GT200 cores.
@Vdek The g200 core is just a refresh of the g92 core...
@(Unverified)
And the RV870 is just a refresh of the RV770 which is a refresh of the RV670.
Not to mention the Core i7 is just a refresh of the Core 2 Duo which is a refresh of the Core Duo which is a refresh of the Pentium III which is a refresh of the Pentium II which is a refresh of the Pentium Pro.
What's your point?
@Vdek Uh, no, but good try. The Core i7 is not a refresh of the Core2. They have different micro-architectures (Nehalem and Core, respectively). By your logic the Core i7 is a "refresh" of the 8086.
@Vdek I guess he meant rebrand... NVidia does it and thats no point in denying it. I have a 8800GT and once i though i could just "upgrade" to the 9800GT. Turn out that in performance benchemarks comparison they performed almost exactly the same... Thats the point. What matters the most is the peformance gains they sell in the names matchs the performance gains they put on the chiops and thats all. Its clear both companies do evolutionary designs (and not revolutionary, as they market it). For now I'm going with ATI and I guess nVidia's price tag on its new chips will keep me that way...
@Vdek
There is refresh as in "double the cores, add in the latest Direct X support, power gating, new video acceleration support" and there is refresh as in "we shrunk the die" and then there is refresh as in "we painted a new number on the side of the box." You'd have to be an idiot not to comprehend the difference, but fortunately for nvidia most of its fanboys fall under that description.
They have really lost me. 9400m to 300m to GTX to GTS to Ultra to big numbers to little numbers. I have no clue what is what and what is better.
All I know is, at least ATi is using a half way understandable naming convention still, bigger the number the better the card.
@7egend I totally agree! And this is totally backwards, seeing as ATI used to have a completely upside down naming scheme whereas NVIDIAs names used to be understandable.
@7egend Not really, the upcoming 5165 is going to be faster than some of the 54xx and 55xx series. In fact the 5165 is a rebrand of the mobile 4670.
@7egend Well, until their next reboot once they hit 9000 again. ;)
@ATimson
Are you telling me that ATI won't go 'over 9000'?
@F orrest
WHAT?! NINE THOUSAND?!
Looking at the specs on Nvidia's site, all these "new" GPUs are just rebadged 200-series chips, they're all still just DX10 hardware with the same specs as 200-series chips.
Pathetic, Nvidia, really pathetic.
@Crsh Not exactly, the chips are DX 10.1 compatible.
@Vdek I mean they're not DX11 hardware, like some of us are expecting.
nVidia, stop making new chips until you get your current drivers stable.
So do they at least use less power and/or put out less heat, or are they 100% the same chip?
the ATI cards in the past 2 years have absolutely powned nvidia
all that nvidia has been doing is dropping prices and trying to stay afloat.
Since their 8800 Direct x10 first leap forward way ahead of ati, they have really not been trying as hard.
The best nvidia cards now are still old cards with just small changes, the new ATI are completely redone and updated cores.
while nvidia is still trying to push 2x and 3x of the same old card on one platform...