NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M is a mobile graphics processor from the Kepler architecture, released in March 2014 and now classified as end-of-life. Built on a 28 nm process at TSMC, the chip contains 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 12.0M per mm². The GPU operates with a base clock of 954 MHz and a boost clock of 993 MHz, while the memory runs at 1250 MHz with 5 Gbps effective data rate. This database entry analyzes the GTX 880M's benchmark standing, thermal requirements, and feature set against its closest competitors, using only the supplied performance metrics.

Power and Cooling

The GTX 880M carries a thermal design power (TDP) of 122 W, which places it in a moderate power envelope for a mobile Kepler part. Because this is an MXM Module with a slot width of MXM-B (3.0), the cooling solution is entirely dependent on the laptop chassis — there are no power connectors on the card itself, as power is delivered through the MXM interface. The absence of dedicated power connectors means system integrators must design the motherboard's power delivery to handle the 122 W draw, and the data does not list a suggested PSU, which is typical for a mobile part where the adapter is external and proprietary.

The 28 nm process node and 3,540 million transistor count suggest a relatively dense chip for its era, yet the 122 W TDP indicates that thermal management was a key design constraint. With a die size of 294 mm², the heat density is substantial, implying that laptops using this GPU would require robust cooling solutions — likely dual-fan designs or thick heat pipes — to sustain boost clocks near 993 MHz under sustained loads. The pixel rate of 31.78 GPixel/s and texture rate of 127.1 GTexel/s generate significant heat during gaming sessions, so the thermal solution must be capable of dissipating that energy without throttling.

The MXM form factor introduces another thermal consideration: the module's compact size limits the heatsink surface area compared to desktop GPUs. Since the display outputs are portable device dependent, the cooling design is further constrained by the laptop's internal layout. For users considering this card in a repurposed or upgraded laptop, the 122 W TDP should be matched with the chassis's original thermal design, as exceeding that limit could lead to instability. The data shows no power connector requirements, reinforcing that the MXM slot itself is the sole power pathway.

How It Compares

Against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER, the GTX 880M trails by a razor-thin margin of 0.1% (12504 vs 12490 average score). This is effectively a statistical tie — the two GPUs deliver nearly identical aggregate benchmark performance, despite the GTX 1650 SUPER being a much newer desktop part. The delta suggests that Kepler's mature driver optimizations and the 880M's high core count (1536 shading units) compensate for architectural age.

The NVIDIA Tesla K20Xm sits 0.5% ahead of the GTX 880M (12547 vs 12490). This compute-oriented card edges out the mobile GPU, but the margin is negligible in real-world terms. The K20Xm's advantage likely stems from its workstation-class double-precision throughput, yet for gaming workloads, the GTX 880M's higher clock speeds (954 MHz base) and dedicated texture units (128 TMUs) keep it competitive.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 scores 12331, which is 1.3% lower than the GTX 880M's 12490. This is a surprising result — the GTX 1070 is a newer architecture with more memory bandwidth, but the benchmark data places it slightly behind. The GTX 880M's 8 GB VRAM may contribute to this outcome in memory-heavy tests, though the 256-bit bus width is narrower than the GTX 1070's.

The NVIDIA Quadro K4200 finishes 2% behind the GTX 880M (12241 vs 12490). This professional card is optimized for precision and stability, not raw throughput, so its lower score is expected. The GTX 880M's consumer-oriented design with higher FP32 performance (3.050 TFLOPS) gives it a clear edge in general-purpose compute benchmarks.

Who Should Consider It

Benchmark results place the GTX 880M in the 51st percentile among all GPUs, meaning it outperforms half of all tested graphics cards. For gaming at 1080p, this level of performance is sufficient for medium to high settings in most titles, though the data does not specify resolution-specific framerates. The average benchmark score of 12490, coupled with the 8 GB GDDR5 memory, suggests that users running modern games at 1080p with texture-heavy assets will find the VRAM capacity adequate.

At 1440p, the GTX 880M's 160.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a limiting factor. The memory subsystem is identical in bandwidth to the GTX 1650 SUPER (which scores 12504), but the newer card benefits from more efficient memory compression. Users targeting 1440p should expect to dial down settings, as the 32 ROPs and 3.050 TFLOPS FP32 throughput are modest by current standards. For 4K gaming, the GTX 880M is not recommended — the pixel rate of 31.78 GPixel/s is insufficient for high-fidelity rendering at that resolution.

The 2% advantage over the Quadro K4200 indicates that the GTX 880M can handle professional tasks like CAD or video editing, but its driver support is gaming-focused. For users with legacy laptops that support MXM-B modules, this card offers a meaningful upgrade path — the 1.3% lead over the GTX 1070 is marginal, but the 8 GB memory capacity future-proofs texture-heavy workloads.

FAQ

Q: Does the GTX 880M support DirectX 12?

A: Yes, the API list includes DirectX 12 (11_0), along with OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.175.

Q: What is the memory configuration of the GTX 880M?

A: It features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: How does the GTX 880M compare to the GTX 1650 SUPER?

A: The GTX 880M scores 12490, which is only 0.1% lower than the GTX 1650 SUPER's 12504, making them statistically equivalent.

Q: What power connector does the GTX 880M require?

A: None — the card uses the MXM-B (3.0) interface for both power and data, with a TDP of 122 W.

Q: What is the production status of the GTX 880M?

A: It is end-of-life, with a release date of March 11, 2014, and a successor in the GeForce 900M series.

Q: Does the GTX 880M have ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No, the FACT PACK lists null values for both rtCores and tensorCores, indicating they are not present.

Benchmark Performance

The GTX 880M's average benchmark score of 12490 places it in the 51st percentile of all GPUs, a middling position that reflects its age but also its strong specs for a 2014 mobile part. In Geekbench compute tests, the card scores 10261 in Metal and 14719 in OpenCL, showing better performance in the cross-platform OpenCL API. The 3.050 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the key computational metric, enabling the card to keep pace with much newer hardware in synthetic benchmarks.

The nearest rival data reveals a tight cluster: the GTX 1650 SUPER leads by a mere 0.1% (12504), the Tesla K20Xm is 0.5% ahead (12547), the GTX 1070 trails by 1.3% (12331), and the Quadro K4200 is 2% behind (12241). These deltas are all within 2%, suggesting that the GTX 880M delivers performance equivalent to a mid-range Pascal-era card. The 0.1% gap to the GTX 1650 SUPER is particularly notable — despite the newer architecture and higher bandwidth, the GTX 880M's 1536 shading units and 128 TMUs compensate effectively.

The Geekbench OpenCL score of 14719 is 43.5% higher than the Metal score of 10261, which may indicate driver maturity or API-specific optimizations. This disparity is worth investigating — Metal is Apple's API, and the GTX 880M's Kepler architecture was never officially supported on macOS, so the lower Metal score likely reflects unofficial drivers. For Windows-based benchmarks, the OpenCL score is more representative of the card's true compute capability.

Memory Subsystem

The GTX 880M is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, a generous amount for a 2014 GPU, connected via a 256-bit bus. The memory clock runs at 1250 MHz, yielding an effective data rate of 5 Gbps and a total bandwidth of 160.0 GB/s. This bandwidth figure is identical to what the GTX 1650 SUPER achieves, though the newer card uses a more efficient memory controller.

The 8 GB capacity is the standout feature — at launch, most mobile GPUs offered 2-4 GB, so this card anticipated the growing memory demands of high-resolution textures. For modern games at 1080p, 8 GB is more than sufficient, and even at 1440p, textures are unlikely to exceed this limit. However, the 160.0 GB/s bandwidth is a bottleneck for higher resolutions, as the pixel rate of 31.78 GPixel/s requires fast memory access to avoid stalls.

The 256-bit bus width is moderate, and the 32 ROPs limit fill-rate-heavy operations. In benchmark terms, the GTX 880M's memory subsystem delivers performance comparable to the GTX 1070 (which scores 12331), despite the latter having a wider 256-bit bus and faster GDDR5X in some variants. The data suggests that the 880M's memory capacity compensates for its narrower bandwidth in certain workloads, particularly those with large datasets.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The GTX 880M has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, as the FACT PACK lists null values for both. This is expected for a Kepler-era GPU, which predates the RTX series by several years. The card relies on traditional rasterization, with 1536 shading units and 128 TMUs handling geometry and texture work.

The API support includes DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The DirectX 12 feature level is 11_0, which means the card cannot leverage newer features like mesh shaders or variable rate shading. Vulkan 1.2.175 is a relatively modern API version, suggesting that drivers have been updated to support current titles, but the underlying hardware lacks the dedicated acceleration for advanced graphics effects.

Without RT or tensor cores, the GTX 880M cannot perform hardware-accelerated ray tracing or DLSS. Users must rely on traditional rendering techniques, which places the card at a disadvantage in games that heavily use these features. However, the 3.050 TFLOPS FP32 throughput provides adequate compute power for standard shading and post-processing effects. The pixel rate of 31.78 GPixel/s and texture rate of 127.1 GTexel/s are sufficient for 1080p gaming at medium to high settings, as evidenced by the 51st percentile ranking.