The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M: A Powerful yet Limited Graphics Card for Laptops

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M is a popular graphics card found in many modern laptops, including the Lenovo Y50. While it offers impressive performance for general use and gaming at lower settings, its limitations become apparent when pushing the card to its maximum potential. In this article, we'll explore the pros and cons of the GTX 860M and how it performs in various games.

One of the primary concerns with the GTX 860M is its limited power consumption. The card is designed for laptops, which means it needs to be power-efficient to conserve battery life. This limitation can result in reduced performance when playing demanding games at high settings. For example, trying to play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt at maximum settings on a laptop with the GTX 860M can lead to an unsatisfactory experience due to the extremely low frame rate.

However, the GTX 860M does have its strengths. In less demanding games like DotA 2 Reborn, it performs smoothly even at high graphics quality settings. The card's NVIDIA-optimized settings allow for a playable experience at 768p with considerable high graphics quality, making it an enjoyable game to play as Geralt.

In terms of temperature performance, the GTX 860M on the Lenovo Y50 is relatively well-handled. Temperatures must be taken with a grain of salt, as every laptop has different cooling configurations. However, our tests suggest that the GPU's heat output is within acceptable limits.

To put the GTX 860M to the test, we played four games at their respective maximum graphics presets on the Lenovo Y50's native resolution of 1080p. We used ThrottleStop to keep the CPU running as high as possible, reducing the possibility of performance being CPU limited. The games tested were The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, DotA 2 Reborn, Battlefield 4, and The Crew.

The results showed that the GTX 860M struggled with demanding games at maximum settings, but performed well in less demanding titles. For example, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was playable at medium settings, while DotA 2 Reborn ran smoothly even at high graphics quality settings.

In conclusion, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M is a powerful yet limited graphics card for laptops. While it offers impressive performance for general use and gaming at lower settings, its limitations become apparent when pushing the card to its maximum potential. If you're looking to play demanding games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on your laptop, you may need to consider upgrading to a better graphics card or reducing settings to achieve a smoother experience.

Specs:

* NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M

* Lenovo Y50

* Intel Core i7-4710HQ (2.5 GHz, boost at 3.5 GHz)

* 8GB DDR3L 1600 MHz in single-channel configuration

4gb nvidia geforce gtx 860m