NVIDIA’s new Max-Q technology allows a GeForce GTX 1080 to be used in Ultrabooks

At Computex, Asia’s largest technology trade show, NVIDIA today announced Max-Q, an new design approach that enables gaming laptops to be 3x thinner with 3x more performance than previous generations. NVIDIA claims that a GeForce GTX 1080 can be used in a laptop that is as small as 18mm thick. To put that in perspective, Apple MacBook Air is 18mm thick and you can turn it into a gaming powerhouse with Max-Q. I hope Microsoft uses this technology to pack GTX 1080 into the next generation Surface Book.

To achieve this level of performance using Max-Q, everything in the design is precision engineered — including the laptop, the GPU, the drivers, and the thermal and electrical components — to ensure peak efficiency. Max-Q designed laptops will have GPUs based on the NVIDIA Pascal GPU architecture. Max-Q combines a new way of operating the GPU for peak efficiency, with optimizations such as a low voltage optimized clock curve that wrings out gaming performance while reducing power. NVIDIA has also tuned Game Ready drivers o deliver optimal system efficiency. New advanced thermal solutions, along with regulator efficiency, enable higher performance and quieter operations in thin gaming laptops than in anything else currently available.

NVIDIA today also announced WhisperMode technology that laptops run much quieter while gaming. It intelligently paces the game’s frame rate while simultaneously configuring the graphics settings for optimal power efficiency. This reduces the overall acoustic level for gaming laptops. NVIDIA is planning to release WhisperMode tech for all Pascal GPU-based laptops through a GeForce Experience software update.

MaxQ-designed gaming laptops equipped with GeForce GTX 1080, 1070 and 1060 GPUs will be available starting June 27 from the OEMs.