Nvidia has announced the GeForce 500M series of notebook graphics processing units (GPUs) during the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, currently underway in Las Vegas, with which the GPU manufacturer is aiming to take on AMD’s new Radeon HD 6000M series of mobile GPUs.

 

This new mobile GPU series is designed to power notebook PCs featuring Intel’s second-generation Core CPUs (Sandy Bridge) and features Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which enables longer notebook battery life by switching the GPU on only when it’s required.

 

The top end of the range consists of the GeForce GT 540M (as used in the newly announced Sony VAIO F Series 3D laptop), GeForce GT 550M, as well as the GeForce GT 555M. According to Nvidia these GPUs boast over four times the performance of integrated graphics solutions and twice the DirectX 11 performance of the competition. Mainstream notebooks though will employ the GeForce GT 520M or GeForce GT 525M, which offers over twice the performance of integrated graphics.

 

“GeForce GT 500M GPUs combined with Optimus technology enable the most versatile laptops ever created,” said Rene Haas, general manager of notebook business at Nvidia. “Pairing a great GPU with a strong CPU delivers Optimized notebook performance for consumers.”

 

Nvidia’s new mobile GPU range also offers 3D Vision technology support, DirectX 11 capabilities, Nvidia’s PhysX physics engine to enable realistic physics effects within games, as well as Nvidia 3DTV Play software for delivering 3D content from a PC to a 3DTV via an HDMI connection.