NVIDIA GeForce 8M Notebook Graphics Card Series Released

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On May 10 Nvidia announced its new GeForce 8 series family of DirectX 10 GPUs for notebooks. The 8400M and 8600M models will be available initially. At current, they appear in only a few select notebooks, but there should be many more notebooks available featuring the new GPUs by the beginning of June.

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Image courtesy Hexus.net

The GeForce 8400M series is the mainstream GPU, which will most likely take over the role currently filled by the Go7300/Go7400. The lower-end variants, the 8400M-G and the 8400M-GS, have 64-bit memory interfaces, while the higher-end 8400M-GT has a 128-bit; the latter should have noticeably better performance than the former two. Notice the 19.2GB/sec memory bandwidth for the GT vs the 9.6GB/s for the G and GS.

The 8600M series is the performance GPU; it will probably fill the role currently occupied by the Go7600/Go7700 series, and will appear in gamer's notebooks. There are two variants, the 8600M-GS and the 8600M-GT. Both variants have the same memory bandwidth (22.4GB/s), but notice the difference in texture fill rate - the GS has 4.8 billion/s vs the GT's 7.6 billion/s.

One of the most important features of the new 8-series is the fact that it has the first video processor that completely offloads the video decoding of Blu-Ray Disc and HD DVD from the CPU. They also offload for MPEG-2 footage (standard DVDs). What this means is flawless playback of high-definition movies.

On a final note, Nvidia has switched to designating their mobile GPUs with a &quot;-M&quot; at the end of the model series instead of their previous &quot;Go&quot; prefix.

Nvidia currently holds a 58 percent share of the dedicated notebook graphics market and the introduction of their latest 8-series will most likely gain even more.

Additional Information (Hexus.net)

Nvidia GeForce 8M series (Nvidia.com)

 

It'll be real interesting to see how the new set of ATI / Nvidia cards compete against each other and if Nvidia continues to grow at the expense of ATI (or AMD I guess I should say).

 

Man, now I really want to see some specifications for the ATI mobile GPUs.

 

how much do you think it will cost to upgrade if I was to customize an hp?

 

the nvidia GPU lineup is itresting
i was a bit initially confused at the performance of each card but now am a bit better and im sure others are too
thanks chaz
the 8600M GS has lower stream processors but a higher core clock frequency other than that and the texture fill rate their almost identical

 

This is interesting...hopefully the 8600M will be much better than the 7600/7700.

 

Guess this means I should just continue thinking about buying a system with a 7950 for gaming? I've already got a nice 7600, and the 8600 just doesn't sound like it offers anything truly amazing.

 

Yes pyro, unfortunately. These cards are not going to be very good for the latest games ;(. The 7900gs is way faster right now, especially the 7950gtx!

Don't get too hung up on DX10... I've been hoping for it, but I'm not going to sacrifice that much performance... ESPECIALLY when new DX10 games are going to doubly suck on these anyway since they are newer and more demanding games!

I myself HAVE to get a system by July at the latest... so its a bit more complex for me . Maybe you can wait a bit longer? Fall perhaps?

 

But th 8600GT seems very powerful, in fact it's 3DMark score is slightly lower than 7900GS.

 

The good stuff ( Enthusiast line as Nvidia calls it ) will be available only summer 2007 so we'll just have to wait .

I just hope that Nvidia have managed to improve the efficiency and is not just simply making them bigger , more power hungry , too hot to handle beasts .

 

i'm glad they've worked harder on the Purevideo thingy, it would be nice to have a Bluray drive, a DX10 card and a WUXGA
i can't afford it anyway, too bad

 

It would be sweet if Sony uses the 8400M for the new sz model. Anyone here know which graphic will Sony use for the next SZ model?

 

Is it me or is this line up ment to compete with the x1600 as ultimate MXM-II solution?

Seems like these chips are for low thermal & dense packages:
- the 128 bit bus, vs previous parts' 256 bit busses would make packaging better
- the low amount of stream processors (they could have just used a desktop chip with minor mods) would make it fit most 15.4" and 14.1" notebooks (x1600 TDP=35W, 8600M GT TDP=43W

 

Very interesting
And what about new Quadro NVS & FX ?

 

Even though it was officially 'released' yesterday, I don't see any of the release partners offering it on their notebooks. Evidently we still have to wait a while, probably a solid month or more, before it becomes an option on notebooks.

 

I can't wait to see real benchmarks of these GPUs. 3DMarks don't mean much right now because the desktop 8600 series shows excellent 3DMark scores compared to the previous generation 7900 series yet fails to outperform them in real world games.

 

What are the notebooks with this GPU?


While the performance might not be a huge leap, it seems like nVidia was focusing more on power consumption and space in an attempt to get more manufacturers to use the cards, which I think is a huge plus.

 

There wasn't any mention of those cards but if Nvidia comes out with an announcement I'll make a post on it.

I'm not sure what notebooks are available with the 8 series GPUs actually. The new HP Pavilions are supposed to be in a month or so.

 

Sony's FZ has the 8400M GT, but it's only 64MB of dedicated VRAM.

 

Is the new 8600GTM better than the 7900GS that I have in my Dell E1705? From what I have read the new chip is about the same possibly even slightly slower.

 

Based on what we know now which isn't much it looks like the 7900GS is still faster for current games. This may change once we know more.

 

Based on preliminary 3DMark06 scores, the 8600M GT is faster than the 7900GS. When it comes to actual games, though, it's anyone's game. The desktop 8600GTS scores higher on 3DMark than 7900GS, but the 7900GS ends up beating the 8600GTS in actual FPS tests.

Regardless, the 8600M GT is very similar in speed to the 7900GS. The biggest difference is DX10 compliance.

 

Has anyone noticed that the core and shader clocks of the 8600m gt are slower than the gs? I would assume this is because double the stream processors that it has, but could someone comment on this?

 

Yes you are right, but with double the stream processors the texture fill rate is still higher on the GT. End result is that your gaming experience will be better on the GT than it will on the GS, although I won't say how much until someone actually tests it out.

 

There has to be a card that is between the 8600 gt and the 8800 gts

There needs to be a 256 bit interface dx 10 card for notebooks.

Its possible that it will be called 8800 go and there just never is a 8800 gts desktop gpu notebook part.
Or there is a 8700 go also

 

By 8800 are you referring to g80? If so, I have heard there are no such plans for laptops because it would simply burn it up. However, there are rumors nVidia will release a g81 that is what you are thinking of, between 8800 and 8600, but not until later in the year.

 

Edit: In other words, the 7950GTX will remain the current most powerful GPU for mobility for a while.

 

till we know more about the cards and their actual performance
also till the 8700 and the 8800 GPUs are out
so yes it does stand true till then

 

it will be called 8800 m GS like all gpus now.....

 

Clock speeds are only one part of the equation. Much like the old P4 days, MHz isn't all that counts. How much you can actually do each clock cycle is just as important.

 

your right!!!
the new GPU's have the m at the end of their name and stands for mobility and helps differentiate the mobile and desktop GPUs from each other by just fising a simple letter at the end

 

Hey everyone! Allow me to shed some light on this oh so very special occasion!
Here's a comparison of the top-of-the-line 8400 (the 8400M GT) vs. the current 7600M.

8400M GT:
Steam Processors: 16
Core Clock (MHz): 450
Shader Clock (MHz): 900
Memory Clock (MHz): 600
Maximum Memory: 512MB
Memory Interface: 128-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec): 19.2
Texture Fill Rate (billion/second): 3.6

7600M:
Memory Interface: 128-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec): 16
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec): 3.2
Vertices/Second (million): 550
RAMDACs (MHz): 400

So as you can see from this quick comparison the top-of-the-line 8400 should be close (if not better than) to the current 7600M. So for those of you looking to play Crysis (that includes me!) on low-medium settings, you can now play one of the year's sweetest games on a more affordable laptop.

 

For the FZ190 CTO, Sony's specifications read:
- 383MB Total Available Graphics Memory if NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GT GPU and 1GB ram is selected.
- 895MB Total Available Graphics Memory if NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GT GPU and over 2GB ram is selected.

How do you know the FZ's 8400M GT is only 64MB of dedicated Video RAM? Sony's specifications for the GPU have always confused me. Why must they use "Total Available Graphics"?

 

I'm going to guess and say Sony is using a factor of four - dedicated x 4 = total memory. So, the first option would be 256MB dedicated and the last option would be 512MB.

They always use "Total available graphics memory" because it looks better to the consumer.

 

I came up with 64MB because I called Sony and asked how much dedicated VRAM is on their 8400M GT, and they said 64MB. However, after some thinking, I called back and got a different guy who actually took some time to find out by asking the "product specialist" who said it has 256MB dedicated VRAM, so this is much better than 64. I'm still disappointed in 1280X800 res on the Sony FZ, but right now it seems like the best gaming laptop available on Santa Rosa that is currently for sale, although that will change shortly. But Blu-ray in a lappy sure would be sweet.

 

Chaz, I'm not really sure what you're saying. I get that 256 x 4 = 1GB and 512 x 4 = 2GB, but how do the 383MB and 895MB of Total Available Graphics Memory indicate what you've stated?

Sony only offers 1 option for a dedicated GPU [for the FZ190], the "NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GT". There is no choice between 256MB and 512MB versions. I think the 383MB and 895MB have something to do with Vista's allocation of memory and there is only 1 card, which is actually 256MB dedicated as mryerse has indicated.

I got that the Total Available Graphics Memory was someone's "bright" idea to make the computer more appealing to ignorant consumers. But if they were actually offering 256MB and 512MB versions, THAT option alone would be more appealing; if this is the case someone at Sony should be fired! Also, where would Sony be incorporating the price of the 2 versions? in the DDR2-RAM?

Of course I really don't know, but if you could help to clarify I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

I must have missed the part about the 383MB and 895MB, those are peculiar numbers. I find it odd that an 8400M-GT would be equipped with less than 256MB of dedicated memory.

I agree. As for the price difference between the two versions, it would be attributed to the difference in amount of dedicated RAM.

 

I'm going to order the FZ this weekend with the GEForce 8M.

Should I spend extra $150.00 on vista ultimate or premium is good enough?

Thanks for the help.

 

Yes the 383 and 895 come from dedicated VRAM on the GPU + some system memory (DDR2 667Mhz). The difference is based on how much system memory you have. 1GB of system memory only allows you 383, 2GB allows 895. Those are totals though, so with either option you still have 256MB of dedicated VRAM on the GPU. Maybe you already knew this and I am explaining for no reason though. My only reason for holding off right now is 1280X800 display. I might end up buying one with hopes I can cancel before Sony ships it in case something else comes out I like better.

Good question about Vista Premium/Ultimate. I wondered the same. Personally though, I would probably load Windows XP pro on my laptop since I will be on the road and won't have time to figure bugs/incompatibilities out.

 

I'm positive that's its 256MB of dedicated at minimum now, even for the lowest end 8M series notebook gpus. Like others have stated at length, TurboCache will allocate up to 890-something MB of vram in the event that the GPU is being tasked, provided that enough system memory is available.

 

Ultimate doens't offer a whole lot over Premium, so just go with the latter. Don't forget you can easily upgrade to a higher version of Vista by using the Windows Anytime Upgrade program.

 

Hey Chaz do you think the 8400GT should be able to handle Crysis on medium settings? Because on my post earlier comparing it to the current 7600 they're very close together. I thought it would be able to handle it but it doesn't seem that anyone's responding to my post...

 

There are no benchmarks for Crysis as far as I know so it's basically impossible to say. I don't think medium settings are unreasonable for a card like the 8400M.

 

I get the feeling that EVEN the 8400M will take on any game that is out right now with decent settings and framerates.

 

I think that in the Sony FZ it is 256MB dedicated memory. 1GB sysRAM allows the GPU to borrow up to 128MB, and up to 512MB more if you have the extra gig of RAM.

 

I seriously doubt that actually... considering I've checked out the specs and it has a 64bit bus... that should tell you something right there. It's going to be slow... STALKER will likely rug sluggish.

 

Wait, why are the 8m series slower than the 7900 GS?

 

Because the cards coming out right now are mid-range... 7900gs can be considered high-end... even if its last generation.

 

The 8400M GT has 128bit, which you can find this card on the Sony Vaio FZ line. The only difference you ll find the spec sheet, is only the clock numbers of the gpu and ram.

 

I'm thinking of getting a notebook, what do you recommed for the video card a 8400m-gt or a go7900 gs? the notebook is for gaming
in the nvidia website I red that the 8400m-gt has 512mb but it has 256mb dedicated. when they say that it has 256mb dedicated what do they mean by that?