Nvidia RTX 30 laptop GPUs have 28 different configurations

The series of Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 cards for laptops actually consists of 28 different models. Nvidia introduced three: the RTX 3060, 3070 and 3080, but there are dozens of different configurations for clock speeds and tgp, which affects performance.

Laptop manufacturers receive from Nvidia a long list of setting options for the RTX 30 GPUs that they place in laptops. This allows them to set consumption and clock speeds. This flexibility is necessary, because the behavior of the GPU can be adapted to the cooling capacity of laptops. Users cannot change those configurations.

In total, there appear to be 28 different configurations, ComputerBase discovered. The German website got hold of the complete list as Nvidia supplies it to OEMs. When announcing the RTX 30 cards, Nvidia did mention that there will be models with different tgp settings, but the total number of configurations was not known.

Eleven configurations are possible for the RTX 3060 and the 3080. The RTX 3070 has six configurations. In all cases, there are three Max-Q variants; these have the lowest consumption and are equipped with 12GBit/s memory, while all other variants have faster 14Gbit/s memory.

Unclear for purchase

It is not clear to consumers before purchasing which RTX 30 GPU is exactly in the laptop. Manufacturers do report whether it is an RTX 3060, 3070 or 3080, but detailed specifications about the allowed power consumption and the GPU clock speeds are often lacking.

Also, it seemed that Nvidia was no longer using the Max-Q naming convention. With the previous RTX 20 generation of laptop GPUs, the Max-Q label clearly showed whether a laptop had a slower and more economical variant of a particular video card.

Nvidia no longer mentions Max-Q GPUs on its website, but says in a statement to HotHardware that the designation will not disappear. According to Nvidia, the company “strongly recommends” laptop manufacturers to list clock speeds and techniques that fall under the Max-Q flag. However, it is up to the manufacturer to choose what it says in its marketing, Nvidia admits.

According to Nvidia, owners of new laptops can now see more details about the GPU than before. The Windows Control Panel now lists the set tgp value and clock speed. However, this is not a solution for consumers who are looking to purchase and do not have the laptops in question in their hands.

Due to the large potential differences in performance, consumers will have to wait for reviews and comparisons to get a clear picture of the performance of gaming laptops. It remains to be seen whether laptop manufacturers will provide more clarity about this in their marketing or on product pages. This was not the case with recent announcements from manufacturers such as ASUS, MSI and Lenovo.

* Laptop manufacturers can temporarily add 5, 10 or 15 watts to the GPU with Dynamic Boost 2.0. The RTX 3080, 3070 and 3060 thus have a power budget of a maximum of 165, 140 and 130 watts respectively.

Difference from desktop video cards

While the laptop variants of the RTX 30 GPUs are very similar in name to their desktop counterparts, the specifications are not the same. The RTX 3080, 3070 and 3060 for laptops have fewer CUDA cores than the desktop versions. There are also other differences, such as the use of GDDR6 memory in the RTX 3080 for laptops, while the desktop version uses faster Gddr6x. However, the laptop version can be equipped with 16GB of vram, while that is 10GB with the separate video card.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 GPUs for Laptop

Model GeForce RTX 3080 laptop GPU GeForce RTX 3070 laptop GPU GeForce RTX 3060 laptop GPU

Architecture

CUDA cores

boost clock

Memory

Memory bus

Tgp

Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Desktop GPUs

Fashion model

Architecture

CUDA cores

boost clock

Memory

Memory bus

Tgp

Specifications of laptops and desktop GPUs as stated on the Nvidia website

Medion Erazer Beast X25 with RTX 3080 GPU