CES 2021: NVIDIA announces GeForce RTX 30-series mobile GPUs for laptops

NVIDIA GeForce 30 Series Laptop GPUs Specs Features Availability
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NVIDIA unveiled its Ampere micro-architecture along with the launch of the GeForce RTX 30 series desktop GPUs. And now the company has announced its mobile version. Like its desktop counterpart, the RTX 30 series mobile GPUs for laptops are based on the new Ampere architecture. In this post, we will be taking a look at all the features of the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series laptop GPUs along with the specs, features, and availability.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series Laptop GPUs

GeForce graphics solution from NVIDIA is very popular among laptop users. The company has also claimed that over 50 million users have spent 14 billion hours gaming on a laptop with a GeForce product. NVIDIA’s GPUs have grown in popularity too with the company recording up to a 7 times increase in sales of GeForce laptops over the time of 7 years. NVIDIA now looks to have an even tighter grip on the market with its latest GeForce RTX 30 Series laptop GPU.

As I mentioned earlier, the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series laptop GPUs are based on the latest Ampere architecture. The new lineup brings the 3rd Gen Max-Q technology along with up to 2 times better power efficiency.

Ampere Architecture

The new laptop GPUs offer up to 2x FP32 throughout with the help of new streaming multiprocessors based on the Ampere technology. These GPUs come with multiple architectural improvements, support for PCIe Express 4.0, and improved performance per watt. The new Tensor cores offer up to twice the throughput of last-gen cores. These new cores power features like NVIDIA DLSS, Temporal Anti-Aliasing, NVIDIA Broadcast, and NVIDIA Relax.

Dynamic Boost 2.0

NVIDIA has now introduced a new feature called Dynamic Boost 2.0 that optimizes CPU, GPU, and memory with the help of AI algorithms. The algorithms allow the laptop to constantly look for areas where more power is needed and helps in power optimization for better performance. The system can allocate up to 20W power for graphics-intensive tasks to boost frame rates and reduce rendering time.

NVIDIA Dynamic Boost 2.0

This feature is available on all NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series laptop GPU with the Max-Q design and is enabled by default.

Whisper Mode and DLSS

With the Whisper Mode, users can choose between different acoustic levels and the system will dynamically manage the CPU, GPU, and fans for the best acoustic performance possible. DLSS, an upscaling technology, will now be supported by over 30 games including Cyberpunk 2077 and Minecraft.

Resizable BAR Support

We first saw Resizable BAR in action when AMD announced Smart Memory Access (SAM) during the launch of the Radeon RX 6000 series desktop GPU. This feature is now supported by NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series Laptop GPUs. It allows the compatible CPU to access the whole VRAM of GPU simultaneously instead of accessing it in fragments. This will boost the performance of the system allowing it to achieve a higher refresh rate.

NVIDIA Resizable BAR Technology

This feature will be enabled via a driver update on laptops that are compatible.

Specifications

NVIDIA has announced three GPUs under the GeForce RTX 30 mobile series  – RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060.

3060 3070 3080
Architecture Ampere
Process 8nm
CUDA Cores 3840 5120 6144
Boost Clock (MHz) 1283 – 1703 MHz 1290 – 1620 MHz 1245 – 1710 MHz
GPU Subsystem Power (W) 60 – 115 W 80 – 125 W 80 -150+ W
Standard Memory Configuration 6GB GDDR6 8GB GDDR6 16/8GB GDDR6
Memory Interface Width 192 bits 256 bits 256 bits

Other features of GeForce RTX 30 series mobile GPUs

NVIDIA has confirmed that more laptops with GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs will have 1440p displays. This includes the upcoming Razer Blade Pro, HP Omen 15, Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, and Asus ROG Zephyrus G15. Similarly, over half of the laptops will have support up to 240Hz refresh rate. Some will even have support for a 360Hz refresh rate.

On the other hand, studio laptops with GeForce RTX 30 GPUs will arrive with pixel-accurate displays, up to 16GB of VRAM, and up to 2x rendering performance, and up to 8K RAW and HDR video editing.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series Laptop GPU Availability

NVIDIA has confirmed over 70 different laptops with GeForce RTX 30 series mobile GPUs. Laptops with GeForce RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 will be available starting from January 26th. Similarly, laptops with RTX 3080 laptops will be available on February 2nd. OEMs including Razer, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Lenovo, and Alienware will offer laptops with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series GPU.

GeForce RTX 30 Series Laptops Availability
RTX 3060 February 2nd
RTX 3070 January 26th
RTX 3080
  • Check out our review of Asus ROG Strix Scar 15.