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Not only did we get some major announcements from Intel at Computex today but Nvidia has also taken to the stage with a rather bold announcement. Today, Nvidia introduced Max-Q, a new GPU design that aims to redefine gaming laptops by making them thinner, quieter and faster. This is essentially a GTX 1080 slim enough to slot into a laptop as thin as the MacBook Air, bringing huge performance gains to thin and light laptops.
As always, there is scientific significance to the nomenclature Nvidia has chosen. Max-Q is defined as the point at which the aerodynamic stress on a rocket in atmospheric flight is maximised. As a result, rockets are engineered around what is known as Max-Q. Nvidia's philosophy is similar, using the Max-Q GPU design as the centre of a new generation of gaming laptops. This results in a high-performance gaming platform that can measure in at just 18mm thin, while delivering 70 percent more gaming power than what is currently available in this form factor.
GTX 1080 is already a very efficient graphics card but with Max-Q, Nvidia has found a way to optimise Pascal even further for higher peak efficiency, lower voltages and an optimised clock speed curve. The entire laptop is precisely engineered around the Max-Q GPU, to ensure thermal stability. This will all be backed up by driver improvements on the software side.
So how is an 18mm thick laptop supposed to keep a GTX 1080 cool? Well according to Nvidia, Max-Q designed laptops are engineered with new thermal and electrical designs to help in this area but there is also something on the software side to help. Nvidia has announced ‘WhisperMode Technology', which will pace a game's frame rate and adjust graphics settings to help reduce the overall load on the GPU. This in turn will also help the laptop stay quiet as there will be less need for the fans to kick up.
Max-Q gaming laptops will come in GTX 1080, 1070 and 1060 designs, with the first laptops set to ship on the 27th of June. Nvidia has already teamed up with a range of laptop makers to ensure a good rollout, so expect to see Max-Q laptops from Alienware, ASUS, Acer, Gigabyte, HP, MSI, Maingear, PC Specialist and more.
KitGuru Says: If any of you have seen a MacBook Air in person before, then you know how incredibly thin it is. With that in mind, I would love to see a laptop that size with a capable GPU packed inside. Still, I would worry about heat with such a powerful GPU in that enclosed space, so it will be interesting to get a peek inside one of these laptops when they arrive.
The tech chimp in my head is asking…..is this FRTC??????
Edit: with a side order of tech wizardry on the fly Geforce Experience of some type?
This is so terrible.
Not only are they hindering performance HEAVILY for these new “Max-Q” cards, effectively going back to the huge performance drops of similar namesake that the previous M cards were (like how a 980M was weaker than a 970? This 1080N Max-Q will be weaker than a 1070), but they’re also introducing a “feature” that reduces game visuals and locks the framerate to keep the card cool. I mean… wow. That’s really something. It’s now “battery boost” while plugged in. So it’s quiet.
Why not put a 1070N in there and flash a more optimized vBIOS to it? The Razer Blade Pro’s 1080N loses to laptops with a 1070N like the AW17 R4, or the Clevo P650HS, which is a fraction of the cost. These laptops are going to be hot, ill-performing, and cost close to $3000. And people are praising this?
I’ve been in the laptop community as a laptop enthusiast for a LONG time. I’ve seen all the garbage nVidia has done, and how much of it gets swept under the rug. When things don’t perform, people don’t call it out. These cards are not going to be anything but a cash grab where $1200 1080N cards performing worse than 1070 cards are going to get promoted through the roof.