An Nvidia spokesperson told us that 980-equipped notebooks are “on a par” with models toting its 980M GPU in terms of sounds levels when under heavy load.

For many years, the idea of a truly mobile gaming system has been attainable if you were willing to pay the premium for high performance components.

The GTX 980 has been subsequently bested by the GTX 980 Ti and Titan X on the desktop, of course, but it remains a fast, fast GPU.

In case you’re wondering, that’s not a typo.

Now, Nvidia is doing away with at least some of the remaining difference between laptop and desktop graphics cards by coming up with a version of its GeForce GTX 980 desktop GPU (or graphics processing unit) that will work in laptops, as well as with laptop processors, power supplies and motherboards.

Nvidia says the new laptop-compatible version of the desktop GeForce GTX 980 should deliver performance close to, or in some cases equal to, a 980 card running in a similarly configured desktop PC. Naturally, they are designed as desktop replacements but can still operate off of the mains. And though not on hand during our briefing, you can expect to find SLI configurations of the GTX 980 in larger systems like the MSI GT80! Lastly, the reference design sports 4GB of GDDR5 but up to 8GB is supported. To help things along, Nvidia’s laptop GTX 980s will differ slightly from their desktop counterparts in that they’ll be binned for improved leakage and power consumption. Transferring such performance into the mobile space requires the power envelope to be reduced significantly, to around 100W, and Nvidia achieves this by selecting the very best GM204 silicon and adjusting voltage accordingly. The power phses have been uprated too, with anywhere from four to eight dedicated phases exclusively for the GPU. As for cooling, there aren’t yet details on the various partners’ cooling solutions, but it will be interesting to see the new designs. Most of the features and abilities of the desktop overclocking ecosystem carry over to the mobile GTX 980. This is another key feature Nvidia is using to distinguish enthusiast class notebooks from gaming ones. To hit those overclocked speeds, users will be able to tweak the fan curve of the GPU (a first for laptops), as well as adjust the core clock and memory speeds. Yep, with these notebooks you can do that, too. “In a notebook environment, OEMs like Asus and MSI are responsible for the safety and reliability and longevity of the entire system”.

Just now, NVIDIA has announced the availability of its new GeForce Game Ready driver, namely version 355.98, which should provide the best gaming experience for Tripwire Interactive’s Killing Floor 2 title.

The GTX 980 GPU is also what Nvidia claims is “the world’s first notebooks supporting virtual reality” through a partnership with VR firm Oculus Rift. Furthermore, all of Nvidia’s Gameworks VR technology will be available on the mobile platform.

As for the laptops themselves, you’re looking at the Aorus X7 DT, ASUS GX700V0, Clevo P670DM, Clevo P779DM, MSI GT72 and MSI GT80.