The budget video adapter for mobile devices based on the NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M chip is so overgrown with legends that many users cannot decide when buying laptops. Some sources claim that the mobile video card uses a truncated core of the representative of the game class, while others impose their own opinion on the renaming of the chip of the previous generation.
From this article, the reader learns what the GeForce GT 720M mobile graphics accelerator actually is and whether it should be preferred when buying a laptop. Technical characteristics of the chip, testing and owner reviews will clarify this topic.
Unreasonable excitement
The reason for the conclusions of many users about the use of old graphics cores to create the NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M chip was the recognition of the manufacturer. Representatives of the company on the official website indicated that the new video adapter, or rather its crystal with the marking GK208, was created in the likeness of the graphic core GF117. This statement was the reason for the creation of rumors that the manufacturer took up the use of deducted products.
That's just the presence of GPU Boost 2.0 technology, which is supported by the GeForce GT 720M chip, for some reason is overlooked by many theorists. And support for PhysX, CUDA, Optimus, DirectX 11 is not discussed by anyone. As professionals say in their reviews, the unreasonable excitement generated in the walls of the company NVIDIA. Apparently, in this way, the manufacturer decided to attract buyers to its low-cost solutions.
Performance indicators
For a video adapter based on an NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M chip, it’s difficult to call high-performance specifications. Firstly, the whole picture is spoiled by GDDR3 memory, which works on a 64-bit bus. The limitation of bandwidth at the hardware level can not be bypassed by either the high frequency of the graphics core or the overclocking of memory chips. Like it or not, there is a limit beyond which it is impossible to accelerate.
Fermi architecture supports 96 stream processors in the NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M. The crystal operates at a frequency of 938 MHz, and the memory supports a speed of 1000 MHz. The maximum amount of video memory is limited to 2048 megabytes. The listed technical characteristics of a discrete graphics card are unambiguously more effective than an integrated solution, however it is very difficult to call them gaming.
Lifebuoy for a demanding customer
Nevertheless, the feedback on the mobile video adapter based on the NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M chip is positive. Graphics support DirectX11 and Shader 5.0 allow the laptop owner to play modern toys, however, at the lowest performance settings. CUDA technology enables resource-intensive applications to use the power of the graphic core in the calculations (additional processor in the system). Hardware processing of video streams in high quality, decoding and outputting images to a TV will certainly appeal to multimedia lovers.
Do not forget about the energy-saving features of the graphics accelerator. In Optimus mode, the video card can either turn off, transferring control to the integrated device, or reduce the frequency of the crystal to a minimum. This feature is in demand in ultrabooks, where the main criterion in operation is the battery life on a single charge. Boost 2.0 mode, on the contrary, increases the core frequency under heavy loads, raising the overall performance of the mobile device.
Software performance
In high-performance video adapter, built on the basis of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M chip, the driver plays an important role. For all laptop owners who want to use the device for entertainment, professionals are advised to monitor the latest NVIDIA updates and update drivers for the mobile video adapter in a timely manner. In most cases, new software from the manufacturer’s official website contains optimized instruction sets that improve the performance of applications and modern games.
The media has a lot of instructions for updating the BIOS of a mobile video adapter. Yes, the firmware of the storage device of the graphics accelerator can increase the performance in games, but there are many problems that may arise as a result of inept user actions. For example, the failure of a video card. Replacing the crystal soldered into the laptop motherboard is problematic.
Analogs of the old model
Many users are trying to compare the entry-level gaming chip GeForce GT 540M with the mobile accelerator NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M. Their characteristics are almost identical, and in tests they demonstrate the same performance, but in fact they are two completely different devices. Firstly, the comparison takes place in specialized programs that work directly with the graphics core of the device. Naturally, the result will depend on the frequency - the higher it is, the better the indicator. An important factor is the tire capacity (the GT 540M has twice as much).
When it comes to testing, it’s best to use fair comparison in real games or resource-intensive programs. After all, it is the software that makes the video card reveal its full potential and use technology at the hardware level. According to the results of the experiments, we can safely say that the GeForce GT 540M cannot compete with the modern video card GeForce GT 720M, and all reviews in the media are a fiction.
Manufacturer's marketing move
As practice shows, when choosing a laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M chip, the price is an important factor (the cost of the gadget is in the range of 22-35 thousand rubles). Almost identical mobile devices from one manufacturer with video cards created using the same technology, but with different cores, can have a huge cost difference. A graphic example is the graphics accelerator based on the GeForce GT 740M. It differs from the video card in question only in improved memory chips that operate on a 128-bit bus using GDDR5 technology.
Conducting testing in games, it can be noted that the performance increase is 12-15%, but the cost of identical laptops with different video adapters differs by 50-60%. Professionals claim that the problem was created by Apple, which looked after a gaming video accelerator with an updated memory bus for its products. It turns out that due to the manufacturer’s marketing games, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M video card has fallen into the budget niche, which is why many buyers lose sight of when choosing laptops.
Notebook Owner Reviews
The recommendations of IT professionals and sellers are ignored by many potential buyers. Most users are interested in owner reviews. It is in them that one can find the truth. Among office users who use laptops with a graphics accelerator NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M, the reviews are only positive. Most software require a large amount of memory and the presence of modern technology, and with this the video adapter is in full order.
But lovers of computer games were divided into two camps. People who prefer to play resource-intensive dynamic applications (Crysis 3, Call of Duty 4, Deus Ex 3, and the like) claim that the GT 720M's performance is not enough - it’s inconvenient to look at pictures with 14 frames per second on slides. This video adapter will appeal only to fans of the online toys World of Tanks, DOTA 2, StarCraft 2 and other less resource-intensive applications.
Finally
Summing up, we can conclude that the mobile graphics accelerator based on the NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M chip is a representative of the initial gaming class. Placing a device in the budget segment is the mistake of many sellers. Also, there can be no question of renaming the chip of the last generation - this is an independent graphics accelerator that supports all modern technologies, but is limited (unknown for what purpose) by the manufacturer in terms of data transfer speed between the chip and the motherboard.