Mobile GeForce RTX GPUs are seriously underclocked

[Shawn Knight]

Cutting corners: The first laptops sporting Nvidia’s new RTX series graphics cards are hitting the market today. Before rushing out and throwing money at the first vendor willing to do business, you’ll want to take a close look at the exact GPU specifications you’re getting as manufacturers are being given a lot of leeway in how they can configure their systems.

Nvidia in revealing specifications for its laptop-bound RTX GPUs shared that base clock speeds for its RTX 2080 cards can vary from 735 MHz (on the Max-Q variant) to 1,380 MHz (for the standard RTX 2080 configuration). By comparison, the desktop RTX 2080 features a base clock of 1,515 MHz.

Doing some quick math, that’s a more than 50 percent reduction in clock speed. Presumably, this will have a significant impact on gaming performance.

Worth mentioning is the fact that mobile RTX 2080 cards pack the same number of CUDA cores as the desktop variant at 2,944. Memory speed and bandwidth on the mobile cards also mirror their desktop counterparts.

Max-Q variants are designed for ultra-thin laptops that aren’t capable of dealing with the thermal dissipation and power requirements of standard mobile GPUs.

With so much leeway in terms of what speed to clock cards at, it’s easy to see how performance could vary across different laptops with Nvidia’s RTX series cards. The lesson here, again, is to pay close attention to the actual clock speed of the GPU in the machine you’re considering purchasing.

Various models and brands of RTX laptops are now available on Amazon, Newegg and Best Buy.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/78487-mobile-geforce-rtx-cards-seriously-underclocked.html

 

[m4a4]

I'm not surprised. You don't want to melt the laptop lol

It is a bit deceptive for less technical people. But you're guaranteed to pay more for less for a laptop though...

 

[Evernessince]

Not surprising given that Turing is more power hungry then Pascal (from an overall power consumption standpoint).

That said, Nvidia should add more SKUs instead of allowing such a variance of performance under the same model name. A 47% (rounded) difference between the max and min that mobile RTX 2080s can be clocked means that some people will be getting much lower performance then the name or benchmarks would suggest. 10% justifies a minor model name change, 17% or > deserves an entire model change, 47% is far past that point and definitely deserves one if not two models to segment that performance.

"The lesson here, again, is to pay close attention to the actual clock speed of the GPU in the machine you’re considering purchasing."

Unfortunately most customers do not and I think the tech press needs to do a better job calling Nvidia out on this. They clearly didn't learn their lesson with the MX150 model fiasco and they will continue to pull these deceptive tactics until it hits their brand or their wallets. A 47% variance between mobile RTX 2080 models is completely unacceptable. Some of those lower end RTX 2080s won't even be in the same ballpark as the higher end RTX 2080s. They need something to notify customers of the performance difference.

 

[seeprime]

I'm not surprised. You don't want to melt the laptop lol

It is a bit deceptive for less technical people. But you're guaranteed to pay more for less for a laptop though...

I don't think it's a bit deceptive. I think it's intentionally deceptive to sell more high priced GPU's.

 

[texasrattler]

Is it actually nvidia though? Manufacturers can sell and set whatever limits they want. However, they should require specs upfront and clear if their version is different than nvidias own. This is not something I believe nvidia has control of at least to my knowledge.

 

[Evernessince]

Is it actually nvidia though? Manufacturers can sell and set whatever limits they want. However, they should require specs upfront and clear if their version is different than nvidias own. This is not something I believe nvidia has control of at least to my knowledge.

Please read the article or follow the link. Nvidia is directly stating this is the official frequency range for it's 2080. They have 100% control over it and it's even stated on their own website.

 

[Vrmithrax]

It will be interesting to see some benchmarks on similar laptops with this new gen RTX GPU and as comparable as they can get GPU of the previous / current gen, which I'm sure will come out as soon as people have their hands on the new stuff. Curious to see if the underclocking on these new GPUs is significant to the game performance compared to the other existing products out there - ultimately, that's all that matters, right?

 

[VitalyT]

Should be labelled accordingly, like CRTX - Castrated RTX.

 

[pcnthuziast]

Would a desktop 2070 beat that low clocked 2080 in performance?

 

[texasrattler]

Please read the article or follow the link. Nvidia is directly stating this is the official frequency range for it's 2080. They have 100% control over it and it's even stated on their own website.

The article states nvidia revealed the specs for its rtx based laptops. They say the cards have different frequencies. What a manufactuer decides to do after they get hardware is totally up them. So the max q is clocked lower, nvidia stated that. Weve seen that before, nothing new.
I dont see any real issue here unless there is actual product stating something totally different. Say a rtx 2080 laptop is saying its 1500mhz when its only 735mhz, that would a big difference but is that actually being seen in stores or online? Then yea id say thats a issue if that is happeneing. Something nvidia would have to address.

Also people who dont read up on things when buying these types of laptops n high end compoents, thats on them. As weve all seen this before, the 970 and mx series plus im sure there is even older crap theyve done. AMD isnt any better at this stuff. Both companies have been caught lying about speeds and rebadging product.
None of this is even remotely new, its news cause its a 2080 thats being talked about.
Nvidia is a company that like any other company trying to make money, yes even if they have to lie a lil or fake numbers, that is what they all do. No it isnt right but its what they do. This is why research needs to be done by anyone buying tech especially new tech. Nothing in this world is straight forward. Welcome to the world of business where everyone gets ******.
Its why sites like this exists. Downside is for things to change, its needs to viewed on a bigger scale and I dont see that happening. This and other sites will only have a affect on a small number of people, the masses dont know or care about this or other sites. For some if it aint on a major network, they dont bother. That seems to be the masses these days. So people miss the message of whats going on. In the end that means nvidia will get a slap on wrist n continue doing what they do til they are forced to stop. Hasnt happened yet, obviously. Fines are a joke, small price to pay when your making millions or these days billions.

 

[redgarl]

I wonder if Pascal is not having better performances than Turing on mobile.

 

[redgarl]

Would a desktop 2070 beat that low clocked 2080 in performance?

Obviously, mobile performance are nowhere near their desktop counterparts.

 

[Squid Surprise]

All we have are clock speeds.... just because it's clocked 50% lower doesn't necessarily mean 50% less performance... What we need are benchmarks from 2080 cards clocked at the different frequencies... Techspot, can you get a desktop with a 2080 (or a bunch of laptops, but this seems far pricier) and artificially lower the clock speed to various frequencies so we can see the performance hits?

 

[Lew Zealand]

Jarrod'sTech has a new review on YouTube of an otherwise identical pair of laptops with a 1080 and 2080. Have a look and subscribe to his channel if you are in any way interested in laptop performance. He's great!

 

[Evernessince]

The article states nvidia revealed the specs for its rtx based laptops. They say the cards have different frequencies. What a manufactuer decides to do after they get hardware is totally up them. So the max q is clocked lower, nvidia stated that. Weve seen that before, nothing new.
I dont see any real issue here unless there is actual product stating something totally different. Say a rtx 2080 laptop is saying its 1500mhz when its only 735mhz, that would a big difference but is that actually being seen in stores or online? Then yea id say thats a issue if that is happeneing. Something nvidia would have to address.

Also people who dont read up on things when buying these types of laptops n high end compoents, thats on them. As weve all seen this before, the 970 and mx series plus im sure there is even older crap theyve done. AMD isnt any better at this stuff. Both companies have been caught lying about speeds and rebadging product.
None of this is even remotely new, its news cause its a 2080 thats being talked about.
Nvidia is a company that like any other company trying to make money, yes even if they have to lie a lil or fake numbers, that is what they all do. No it isnt right but its what they do. This is why research needs to be done by anyone buying tech especially new tech. Nothing in this world is straight forward. Welcome to the world of business where everyone gets ******.
Its why sites like this exists. Downside is for things to change, its needs to viewed on a bigger scale and I dont see that happening. This and other sites will only have a affect on a small number of people, the masses dont know or care about this or other sites. For some if it aint on a major network, they dont bother. That seems to be the masses these days. So people miss the message of whats going on. In the end that means nvidia will get a slap on wrist n continue doing what they do til they are forced to stop. Hasnt happened yet, obviously. Fines are a joke, small price to pay when your making millions or these days billions.

This sounds less like a defense of Nvidia and more like a defense of shitty business tactics in general.

"Nvidia is a company that like any other company trying to make money, yes even if they have to lie a lil or fake numbers, that is what they all do."

How in the world does being a company permit Nvidia to do things you or I would get arrested for? I swear, I'm tired of people defending this BS, these companies are not above the law.

 

[texasrattler]

This sounds less like a defense of Nvidia and more like a defense of shitty business tactics in general.

"Nvidia is a company that like any other company trying to make money, yes even if they have to lie a lil or fake numbers, that is what they all do."

How in the world does being a company permit Nvidia to do things you or I would get arrested for? I swear, I'm tired of people defending this BS, these companies are not above the law.

Its not really a defense but simply what has been going on for years. You act like it's new, it's not.
It's partly on the consumer as they don't really do anything, hardly any research on their part then if they do notice or find something wrong it's rarely reported. Then people who report this kind of stuff like TS aren't big enough to get the word out to the masses. That's really the problem. Nvidia and any company that does these type of business practices should get in trouble but they don't or the fine is a joke in the end as it wont impact them hardly.
Sure some bad press will happen but in business bad press can easily be spinned if you have a good PR. Ask Samsung that. Nvidia has done it before too. Enough time passes, the world wont care and it's back to business as usual.

 

[hahahanoobs]

The article states nvidia revealed the specs for its rtx based laptops. They say the cards have different frequencies. What a manufactuer decides to do after they get hardware is totally up them. So the max q is clocked lower, nvidia stated that. Weve seen that before, nothing new.
I dont see any real issue here unless there is actual product stating something totally different. Say a rtx 2080 laptop is saying its 1500mhz when its only 735mhz, that would a big difference but is that actually being seen in stores or online? Then yea id say thats a issue if that is happeneing. Something nvidia would have to address.

Also people who dont read up on things when buying these types of laptops n high end compoents, thats on them. As weve all seen this before, the 970 and mx series plus im sure there is even older crap theyve done. AMD isnt any better at this stuff. Both companies have been caught lying about speeds and rebadging product.
None of this is even remotely new, its news cause its a 2080 thats being talked about.
Nvidia is a company that like any other company trying to make money, yes even if they have to lie a lil or fake numbers, that is what they all do. No it isnt right but its what they do. This is why research needs to be done by anyone buying tech especially new tech. Nothing in this world is straight forward. Welcome to the world of business where everyone gets ******.
Its why sites like this exists. Downside is for things to change, its needs to viewed on a bigger scale and I dont see that happening. This and other sites will only have a affect on a small number of people, the masses dont know or care about this or other sites. For some if it aint on a major network, they dont bother. That seems to be the masses these days. So people miss the message of whats going on. In the end that means nvidia will get a slap on wrist n continue doing what they do til they are forced to stop. Hasnt happened yet, obviously. Fines are a joke, small price to pay when your making millions or these days billions.

This sounds less like a defense of Nvidia and more like a defense of shitty business tactics in general.

"Nvidia is a company that like any other company trying to make money, yes even if they have to lie a lil or fake numbers, that is what they all do."

How in the world does being a company permit Nvidia to do things you or I would get arrested for? I swear, I'm tired of people defending this BS, these companies are not above the law.

What's funny is manufacturers have control over FreeSync performance, specifically when it comes to VRR windows, and in 2019, they are still incredibly tight with 20Hz windows still being a thing. And they aren't written out clearly on the box either.

Food for thought.

 

[Evernessince]

What's funny is manufacturers have control over FreeSync performance, specifically when it comes to VRR windows, and in 2019, they are still incredibly tight with 20Hz windows still being a thing. And they aren't written out clearly on the box either.

Food for thought.

VRR is an open standard part of DisplayPort and HDMI. Not a GPU produced by AMD. Pretty important and significant difference.

Your second statement is entirely false. You can't say there is more then one monitor with a 20 Hz VRR windows because there is literally only one (34UC98). You cherry picked the worst FreeSync monitor on the market and are pushing it as if it's the norm.

Please read AMD's list of FreeSync monitors: https://www.amd.com/en/products/freesync-monitors

 

[Toju Mikie]

I saw benchmarks of a 2080 laptop and a 2080 max-q laptop. Performance of a 1080 desktop seems to be in-between the 2080 laptop and the 2080 max-q laptop. 2080 desktop has 15% performance increase over the 2080 laptop (non max-q). Not bad. Hopefully we will be able to keep this performance across all 2080 laptops.