Note: The benchmark scores of the listed graphics processors are averages measured across various devices with these processors.
You can check out laptops with the 840M here and with the similar but newer 940M here. Especially, the GTX 860M with probably the best price / performance / power consumption ratio to date.
If you however don’t care too much about money, power autonomy, and heat and rather want better performance, the GTX GeForce series such as the 850M or above are the way to go. Thankfully, modern laptops with dedicated video cards utilize GPU switching technology – Nvidia Optimus in this case, so the dedicated ones are active only when needed. As same as any other dedicated graphics card, the 840M runs hotter than integrated ones and more processing power means shorter battery life. The GPU is a good solution for those who don’t want to shell too much money on a new laptop but want to avoid slower performance of the popular integrated graphics processors, such as the Intel HD 5500.
It handles “entry-level gaming” and HD videos well. The Nvidia GeForce GT 840M works as advertised. While GPU utilization was mostly around 99% during half-hour long Battlefield gaming, temperature never reached above 48 degrees Celsius. The GT 840M in our review unit, which has only one fan for both CPU and GPU and a relatively small ventilation hole, was quite cool during heavy stress.
Operating temperatures of GPUs may vary depending on thermal design of each laptop.
CPU usage spikes due to playbacks of a YouTube video in 1080p (FHD) and 2160p (4K) via Internet Explorer were marginal, in range of about 2-3 percent. However, high-def video play isn’t an issue nowadays even if you have just an integrated graphics processor from 2014/2015.
The Nvidia GeForce GT 840M crunches Full HD and Ultra HD (4K) video playback with ease, freeing up the main processor for other tasks. If needed, there’s a great headroom for a better smoothness by lowering rendering, anti aliasing, and resolution settings. Nvidia GeForce GT 840M 3D Mark 11 BenchmarkįIFA 2015 soccer players can run the game on Full HD and maximal quality at around 40 frames per second, except in closer camera views when they drop to around 20. To avoid slowdowns due to software-based gameplay recording, we used an external video capture device. The Acer E5 we tested appears to deliver somewhat lower results than other systems with the same core specs. In addition, different laptops, their cooling system designs, and different BIOS settings can affect gaming performance of the GPU. Please keep in mind that the video card is oftentimes paired with faster Intel Core i7 dual and quad core processors found in higher-performance laptops, resulting in smoother gaming than presented here.
Our benchmark tests clearly confirm that statement.įor this review, we used an Acer Aspire E5-771G series laptop with the 840M, Intel Core i5-5200U mid-tier dual-core processor, 8GB of RAM, and Windows 8.1 OS with the latest GeForce version 347.88 graphics drivers installed. Nvidia says it isn’t designed for hard-core games, but rather for “streaming HD videos, surfing the web, and enjoying entry-level gaming”. The Nvidia GeForce GT 840M is a lower-mid-range dedicated video card for laptops.