NVIDIA Brings Kepler Architecture to Its GeForce Notebook GPU Lineup

NVIDIA brings its next-generation NVIDIA Kepler graphics architecture to the top of the GeForce notebook GPU lineup, with the launch of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M.

GeForce 600M Series GPUs offer:

- Adaptive V-sync - newly developed technology for a smoother gameplay experience
- Advanced AA modes - for crisper images, including NVIDIA FXAA and new TXAA
- NVIDIA Optimus technology - enabling long battery life by automatically switching on the GPU only when it is needed
- NVIDIA PhysX support - for accelerated in-game physics
- NVIDIA 3D Vision 2 technology - for 3D gaming
- NVIDIA 3DTV Play software - for connecting notebooks to 3DTVs
- NVIDIA Verde notebook drivers - offering day one game support and maximum compatibility
- NVIDIA SLI technology - make the fastest notebook GPU even faster with up to double the gaming performance
- NVIDIA CUDA technology support - for high-performance GPU computing applications

The new flagship mobile GPU features 1344 Cuda cores, up to 720MHZ processor clock, up to 1800MHz memory clock, 2GB GDDR5 memory with a 256 bit bus width and a memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s.

Comparing the company's previous GeForce GTX 480M to the GeForce GTX 580M, there was a performance increase of 22%. The new GeForce GTX 680M is in another league, offering an 80% boost in performance, according to Nvidia.

The GTX 680M eclipses the performance of the GTX 580M by such a margin thanks to its advanced chip design that increases the number of CUDA Cores by 3.5x, memory bandwidth by 19.2GB/s, memory speed by 300MHz, and available memory by 500MB. Most importantly, the GTX 680M achieves such performance even with a GPU clock speed that's 520MHz lower than its predecessor. Lower clock speed means lower power consumption.

Separately, Alienware announced its M17x and M18x gaming laptops will be available with GeForce GTX 680M GPUs in the next couple of weeks. It will be available with a GeForce GTX 680M GPU and NVIDIA Optimus technology or NVIDIA 3D Vision technology. The Alienware M18x notebook will be available with GeForce GTX 680M GPUs in single or SLI configurations before the end of the month.

The GeForce GTX 680M GPU is also available in MSI GT70 notebooks and gaming notebooks from Nvidia's Clevo channel partners such as Ava Direct, Maingear and Origin.