Ever since the first NVIDIA Kepler based add in card hit desktop computers in March, mobile gaming enthusiasts have been asking for a high end Kepler part. Now NVIDIA has announced its GeForce GTX 680M, sitting atop of its notebook GPU line-up.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M GPUs are to be featured in the newly announced Alienware M18x and M17x Notebooks. Rene Haas, vice president and general manager of the notebook business unit at NVIDIA said “The GeForce GTX 680M is the fastest mobile GPU ever, but it's more than just a speed king. It also offers an entire arsenal of next-gen gaming technology, along with Optimus technology for extended battery life”.
As more and more 6XXM notebook graphics chips have been announced we’ve been waiting for a top of the range Kepler based part. NVIDIA has confusingly mixed both Fermi and Kepler based graphic chips in desktop and notebook graphic cards in the 6XX series as some kind of bamboozling marketing ploy. Also there are differences between mobile and desktop parts with the same model number, for example while the desktop GeForce GTX 670 is a card with a Kepler core, the GTX 670M uses a Fermi core.
Looking at the GeForce GTX 680M spec it does seem like it shares key qualities with the desktop GeForce GTX 670 such as the 1344 CUDA cores and 256 bit memory interface but with lower component clocks to keep the power usage down.
Ever since the Kepler architecture was released NVIDIA have been emphasising the better performance per watt so it’s easy to see why this GeForce GTX 680M a highly desirable laptop graphics option for mobile gamers. While in Ultrabooks this chip would be out of place and the lower speed/power Kepler core mobile parts such as the GT 640M may be more appropriate. As well as within the Alienware M18x and M17x you will be able to get the new GeForce GTX 680M in the following laptops shortly; Clevo P150EM and P170EM, MSI GT70, Origin PC EON15-S and EON17-S.
