Nvidia Launches GeForce GT 540M Mobile GPU

The old is new again

Nvidia today launched a new mobile GPU, the GeForce GT 540M. Is this a new era of mobile graphics? Not really, which is why today's reveal of the GeForce GT 540M came without much fanfare.

The specs of the new GPU made on the 40nm process include 96 cores and a 128-bit memory bus. If that sounds a little familiar, that's because it's the same as the GeForce GT 435M.

The 540M runs at 672MHz, while the 435M is at 650MHz. On the memory side, the newer GPU is at 900MHz, while the older GPU hit 800MHz.

Nvidia explains its new 500M family, which still uses the 400M technology, like this:

With GeForce GT 540M, we are taking an already proven architecture and using the maturity of the manufacturing process to create GPUs with higher clock settings while staying in the same power envelope. As a result, the GeForce GT 540M delivers a significant increase in fill-rate and memory bandwidth, which ultimately translates to better overall performance.

OEMs are launching these Optimized notebooks with GeForce GT 540M GPUs and dual-core "Arrandale" CPUs in order to hit mainstream price points sooner, ahead of Huron River dual-core platforms that will not be released until later in 2011. It is available immediately in China from Acer, and will be available worldwide next month.