Nvidia has stated that it will not be able to sell graphics chips based on 28nm technology this year, but according to some product details that have appeared online we shouldn’t have to wait very long. The graphics card manufacturer has a dozen new mobile GPUs on the way in the N13 series, which is expected to be ready for mass production in December.
As most readers here are no doubt aware, Nvidia only recently rolled out their top models of mobile N12 series, more commonly referred to as the GeForce 500M Series. Now the website SemiAccurate have acquired what they claim is Nvidia’s plan for the next generation of mobile graphics chips–all manufactured with 28nm technology and members of the upcoming N13 series. The basic architecture will remain more or less the same (based on the Fermi architecture), but with the move to 28nm we can expect to see some noteworthy improvements in power efficiency and, hopefully as a side effect, better performance in your next gaming laptop.
According to the document, Nvidia has ten different mobile GPUs in the pipeline with a power consumption ranging from 15 watts up to 75 watts depending on model. It looks like the products will mimic the current lineup and be divided into three separate categories–N13 M for the Mainstream, N13 P for Performance and N13 E, which stands for Enthusiast class graphics.
Most of the chips end up in the P class, but it’s reasonable to expect additional models later on, particularly in the M series. The document suggests that Nvidia will enter the testing phase of the M and P variants at the start of October and put them into mass production in late December. The first two more powerful E models, on the other hand, will apparently have to wait until January and the top models (including a possible GTX 680M) will not go into mass production until April/May 2012.
Apart from information on power consumption, amount of memory and memory bus width, some 3DMark performance numbers are also mentioned. We assume that it’s 3DMark Vantage since the scores would be too low for 3DMark 06 but way too optimistic for 3DMark 11. The numbers are still quite impressive, with the E series producing 14,000, 15,000 and 20,000 points, respectively. Assuming that Nvidia continues with their current naming structure, that would be the GTX 660M, 670M and 680M. As a comparison, the current GeForce GTX 580M usually produces less than 15,000 points in 3DMark Vantage and the same goes for the current leader, AMD’s Radeon HD 6990M.
All in all, this basically confirms the N13 series is a more efficient version of the Fermi family. It also implies that the upcoming Kepler architecture will have to wait for later and will probably not arrive until the second or third quarter of 2012.
Via SemiAccurate.com.
