Review of the best according to the editorial board. On the selection criteria. This material is subjective and does not constitute advertising and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.
Replacing a video card in a laptop is a difficult, expensive and not always justified task. Even if it is technically possible to carry out an upgrade, it is not a fact that the cooling system will be able to pull it out. Therefore, when buying a gaming or professional laptop, you should make sure that the video card installed in it will be relevant and sufficiently productive for at least the next 3-5 years.
We have compiled a rating of the 5 best video cards for laptops in 2018, which certainly will not lose their relevance and will be able to delight the owner with gaming innovations for several more years.
Rating of the best graphics cards for laptop
| Nomination | a place | Name of product | price |
| Rating of the best graphics cards for laptop | 1 | PNY Quadro P5000 | RUB 137,830 |
| 2 | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 | RUB 21 670 | |
| 3 | Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 | RUB 17,995 | |
| 4 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 MAX-Q | RUB 43 350 | |
| 5 | MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile | RUB 12,890 |
PNY Quadro P5000
Rating: 4.9
Why it: Professional grade graphics card, one of the most powerful on the market (other than the RTX series).
Professional video card based on the NVIDIA graphics accelerator of the same name. As a fairly specialized device, it offers maximum performance in 2D and 3D graphics processing. For example, when rendering video or 3D models. But for games, it is not suitable because it is poorly compatible with traditional visualization technologies.
In the top configuration, it is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR5X video memory, connected via a 256-bit bus. The 16nm processor is equipped with 2560 processing cores, 160 texture units, 64 rasterization units, and also supports shaders version 5.1.
The chip itself heats up a lot – the heat dissipation is 180 W.
The device fits into mobile workstations such as the Eurocom Tornado F5W or the HP ZBook 17 G4.
Advantages
- Top-notch graphics performance
- Lots of memory and it's fast;
- Suitable for CAD and artificial intelligence work.
disadvantages
- Not suitable for games;
- High heat dissipation;
- High cost.
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060
Rating: 4.8
Why it is: A well-overclocked mid-range graphics card that won't burn up your budget (and your computer).
GTX 1060 is one of the best mid-range graphics cards. Despite the fact that by the end of 2018 this graphics accelerator was successfully transferred to the previous generation, it still remains relevant. But it has become inexpensive. In addition, it has a relatively low TDP, which allows you to use a laptop based on it without the risk of melting the last buttons on the case.
In the top configuration, this video card received a process with a frequency of up to 1847 MHz in turbo mode, 6 GB of GDDR5 video memory on a 192-bit bus, a special custom cooling system and support for high resolution (up to 8K 60 fps).
The heat dissipation is relatively low, and the active cooling system installed in gaming laptops can easily cope with it.
Advantages
- The best combination of 'price-quality' in the rating;
- Good overclocking of the processor and memory by the manufacturer;
- Widespread in mid to high end gaming laptops.
disadvantages
- Only 6 GB of video memory;
- Relatively low performance in ray tracing and other cutting edge visualization technologies;
- Attempting to overclock or mine can lead to breakage.
Gigabyte Radeon RX 580
Rating: 4.8
Why it is: Inexpensive and relatively nimble.
One of the best representatives of the previous generation, the AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics accelerator offers an excellent combination of price and technical characteristics for gamers who cannot afford Vega or GTX 1070. Of course, The Last of Us 2 or Cyberpunk 2077 at maximum speeds of 4K 60 fps you can't play on it, but it can handle most of the modern and even future titles.
The technical specifications of this video card include a processor clocked at 1340 MHz, 4 GB GGDR5 video memory on a 256-bit bus and with a frequency of 7 GHz, 2304 computing cores and support for shaders 5.0.
The main drawback of the model is the relatively high heat dissipation, which is about 180 W (or less, depending on the optimization of a particular revision). However, the cooling systems in gaming laptops can handle it.
Advantages
- Low price;
- Good value for money in the mid-range video card segment;
- 256-bit video memory bus.
disadvantages
- Noticeable heating;
- Impossibility of overclocking;
- Heats up quickly under very high load.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 MAX-Q
Rating: 4.7
Why it is: Specially adapted graphics card for gaming laptops.
Max-Q is a special configuration of the top-end NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card designed for use in gaming laptops. It has made it possible to significantly reduce the size and noise level of mobile computers, making them thin – but at the same time practically not losing in performance compared to desktop graphics accelerators.
The technical specifications of the model include a processor overclocked to 1468 MHz in turbo mode, heat dissipation reduced to 110 W under maximum load, 8 GB of GDDR5X video memory on a 256-bit bus and with a clock frequency of 10 GHz, as well as support for all modern graphics technologies.
Benchmarks show that Max-Q is up to 10% slower than the desktop version of the GTX 1080, but still faster than the same desktop version of the GTX 1070. Considering that the GTX 1080 is still the flagship, the video card will remain relevant for a long time.
Advantages
- Low heat dissipation;
- Lots of memory and it is fast; Po
- Support for modern visual and graphic technologies.
disadvantages
- Less performance at similar price as desktop GTX 1080
- Impossibility of overclocking (the radiator may not cope);
- The high cost of laptops on this video card (more expensive than those equipped with a standard GTX 1080).
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
Rating: 4.6
Why it is: High performance at a relatively low cost.
This video card has one of the best value-for-money combinations in the ranking. Despite its mobile configuration, it received a fairly 'nimble' next generation processor, which provides even more performance than the chip used in the desktop version.
In particular, the processor of this model is built on a 14-nanometer process technology, is equipped with 768 CUDA cores and operates at a clock frequency of up to 1624 MHz in turbo mode. The chip is supplemented with 4 GB of GDDR5 video memory connected via a 128-bit bus and having a clock frequency of 7000 MHz.
One of the important advantages of a video card is low heat dissipation. Therefore, it can be placed in thin gaming laptops, which differ not only in compact size, but also in low noise levels.
Advantages
- Higher performance than a desktop graphics card in the same segment;
- Supports almost all modern games;
- Low heat generation.
disadvantages
- Only 4 GB of video memory;
- Drop in processor performance in complex visual scenes (due to the small number of CUDA cores);
- You can overclock, but there is no point.
Attention! This rating is subjective and does not constitute an advertisement and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.
