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970 desktop vs 970m

FrEaKy

FrEaKy

[H] Movie and TV Show Review Guy
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I was just thinking about this, maybe there's an answer for this somewhere, but, Why does a desktop model 970 come with 3-4GB vram while the 970m packs 6GB vram? I know its not entirely the same comparison considering a 970m is only 50-70% the speed of a desktop 970, but it still raises a good question in my mind at least.
 
The GTX 970 has a 256 bit memory bus (4x64 bit controllers) and uses 8x512MB GDDR5 chips for 4GB VRAM.

The GTX 970m has a 192 bit memory bus (3x64 bit controllers) and uses 6x512MB GDDR5 chips for 3GB VRAM or 12x512MB GDDR5 (in x16 clamshell configuration) chips for 6GB VRAM. It comes in both configurations.
 
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But why does the m have more available vram?
 
There isn't a technical reason or limitation. The answer is simply because they choose to offer it (they being Nvidia and partners) for the GTX 970m and not for the GTX 970.

One thing to consider though is that memory costs would represent a much smaller proportion of the BOM (bill of materials) for a laptop part versus a desktop part.
 
limitedaccess said:
There isn't a technical reason or limitation. The answer is simply because they choose to offer it (they being Nvidia and partners) for the GTX 970m and not for the GTX 970.

One thing to consider though is that memory costs would represent a much smaller proportion of the BOM (bill of materials) for a laptop part versus a desktop part.
Click to expand...

Ah, see, I just couldn't figure it out, my Sager NP8268-S comes with 970m 6GB vram, but I see the 970 with 4GB and wanted to know why the laptops had a higher vram is all. Makes sense 1) not as expensive to put 6GB vram into a laptop than on a card 2) some manufacturers/partners may just do 6GB. makes sense.
 
Marketing reasons too, because most laptops are not upgradeable (Sager and Alienware being the rare exceptions, and also the new MSI GT72), so you want to make the paper specs look as impressive as possible.
 
A 6GB desktop 970 could take away one of the few reasons to get a titan :)
 
If they had a higher VRAM model it would be 8gb. 6gb would involve some sort of interleaving situation and likely complicate things.

6gb VRAM will likely be the base configuration of the larger Maxwell based products whenever they release. They almost certainly have working silicon at this point.

There were higher VRAM models for the GTX 660ti, 670, 680, 760, 770 and 780 eventually.

The only 8gb gaming card at the moment is a limited availability Sapphire 290x.
 
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