The GTX 560M with 3GB GDDR5 of memory is a high-end laptop graphics card that will offer similar performance to that of the older GTX 480. The GTX 560M is based on the GF116, which is in fact an optimized GF100 (Geforce GTX 480M).



The G74SX does not use Intel’s integrated graphics. It comes with Nvidia’s GTX 560M. Nvidia Optimus is not included, which means the GTX 560M runs all the time.

Having a 120Hz monitor is a shame to waste but note that 3D gaming is not possible with all games in 1920x1080, simply because 3D tends to double graphics requirements.

Gaming in classic 2D mode will not be a problem, not even at 1920x1080. However, some more demanding games will require turning off effects and antialiasing.

Dirt 2

Asus G74SX instantly got ahead of the pack of slower laptops we included in the table. With graphics settings at ‘High’, G74SX outran Alienware’s Mx14, which has Nvidia GT 555M graphics.

Metro 2033

Metro 2033 allowed for gaming at native 1920x1080 with settings at ‘Normal Quality’, although we did turn off tessellation and DOF.

Crysis 2  / DirectX 9

Crysis 2 was easily playable in DX9 version.

Crysis 2  / DirectX 11

We downloaded the DX 11 patch and high res textures, which decreased the result you see in the table abowe by only a few frames. The real work for GTX 560M begins when Crysis 2 is ran in 3D.

'High' setttings at 1920x1080 coupled with 3D resulted in only 24-27fps. Once we turned on DX11 and high resolution textures, we saw that about 1.6GB was used in the graphics card‘s memory (DirectX 9 took up 1.23GB). All in all, memory was not a bottleneck as the GTX 560M we had on our tests boasts 3GB.

Crysis 2 / DirectX 9 in 3D


Crysis 2 / DirectX 11 in 3D