Mobile PCI Express Module
![]() | This article needs to be updated.(October 2020) |
Mobile PCI Express Module | |
![]() Reference design of a first generation MXM-II card for 35 mm GPU | |
No. of devices | 1 |
---|---|
Style | Serial |
External interface | no |
A Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM) is an interconnect standard for GPUs (MXM Graphics Modules) in laptops using PCI Express created by MXM-SIG. The goal was to create a non-proprietary, industry standard socket, so one could easily upgrade the graphics processor in a laptop, without having to buy a whole new system or relying on proprietary vendor upgrades.



1st generation configurations
Smaller graphics modules can be inserted into larger slots, but type I and II heatsinks will not fit type III and above or vice versa. The Alienware m5700 platform uses a heatsink that will fit Type I, II, & III cards without modification.
MXM Type | Width | Length | Pins | Module Compatibility | Thermal Compatibility | Max. Power | Max. GPU size [1] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MXM-I | 70mm | 68mm | 230 | I | I | 18W | 35×35 mm |
MXM-II | 73mm | 78mm | 230 | I, II | II | 35W | 35×35 mm |
MXM-III (HE) | 82mm | 100mm | 230(232) | I, II, III | I, II, III | 75W | 40×40 mm |
MXM-IV (Deprecated) | 82mm | 117mm | 230 | I, II, III, IV | I, II, III, IV |
2nd generation configurations (MXM 3)
Smaller graphics modules can be inserted into larger slots. Heatsink mounting remains the same for type A and B modules.
MXM Type | Width | Length | Module Compatibility | Thermal Compatibility | Max. Power | GPU memory bus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MXM-A | 82mm | 70mm | A | A | 55W | 64-bit or 128-bit |
MXM-B | 82mm | 105mm | A, B | A, B | 200W | 256-bit |
MXM 3.1 was released in March 2012 and added PCIe 3.0 support.[2][3]
Module compatibility
First generation modules are not compatible with second generation modules and vice versa. First generation modules are fully backwards compatible.
Standard availability
MXM is no longer freely supplied by Nvidia but it is controlled by the MXM-SIG controlled by Nvidia. Only corporate clients are granted access to the standard. The MXM 2.1 specification is widely available. The initial 3.0 technical brief (not the actual spec) can be found here. The 3.1 Electromechanical specification can be found here
Compliance
A common misconception about MXM is that certain models of graphics cards (e.g. Nvidia GTX 980M) "is MXM 2.1", and therefore any notebook with a GTX 980M fully implements MXM 2.1. However, this is incorrect. While Nvidia defines a lot of MXM specifications, they do not manufacture or design MXM cards themselves, which mostly consist of a PCB with vRAM and an Nvidia or AMD GPU core. Therefore, any model of GPU can be manufactured in MXM, but a laptop released with any particular graphics card model may or may not implement MXM regardless. This is because it is the decision of the ODM whether or not to implement MXM, not Nvidia's or AMD's.
List of MXM cards
MXM 3.x cards
Vendor | Name | Released | MXM Type | GPU | Architecture | Core config* | TFLOPS (FP32) | TDP | Dimensions |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AMD | FirePro M5950 | Jan 2011 | Type-A | Whistler XT | Terascale 2 | 80 x 70 mm | |||
FirePro M4000[4] | Jun 2012 | Chelsea XT GL | GCN1 | 512:32:16 | 0.69 | 33W | |||
FirePro M5100 | Oct 2013 | Venus XT | 640:40:16 | ||||||
FirePro M6100 | Type-B | Saturn XT GL | GCN2 | 768:48:16 | 82 x 105 mm | ||||
FirePro W5130M | Aug 2014 | Type-A | Tropo LE | GCN1 | 512:32:16 | 1.0 | 35W | 80 x 70 mm | |
FirePro W5170M | Tropo XT | 640:40:16 | 1.1 | 45W | |||||
FirePro W6150M | Nov 2015 | Type-B | Saturn XT GL | GCN2 | 768:48:16 | 2.0 | 100W | 82 x 105 mm | |
FirePro S4000X | Aug 2014 | Type-A | Venus XT | GCN1 | 640:40:16 | 1.0 | 45W | 80 x 70 mm | |
FirePro S7100X | May 2016 | Type-B | Amethyst XT | GCN3 | 2048:128:32 | 3.0 | 100W | 82 x 105 mm | |
Radeon Pro WX 4130 Mobile | Mar 2017 | Type-A | Baffin LE | GCN4 | 640:40:16 | 1.4 | 45W | 82 x 70 mm | |
Radeon Pro WX 4150 Mobile[5] | Baffin PRO | 896:56:16 | 1.9 | ||||||
Radeon Pro WX 4170 Mobile | Type-B | Baffin XT | 1024:64:16 | 2.5 | 60W | 82 x 105 mm | |||
Radeon Embedded E6465 | Oct 2015 | Type-A | Caicos | Terascale2 | 60:8:4 | 0.2 | 28W | 80 x 70 mm | |
Radeon Embedded E8860 | Cape Verde XT | GCN1 | 640:40:16 | 0.8 | 37W | ||||
Radeon Embedded E8870[6] | Type-B | Bonaire Pro | GCN2 | 768:48:16 | 1.4 | 75W | 82 x 105 mm | ||
Radeon Embedded E8950 | Tonga XT | GCN3 | 2048:128:32 | 3.0 | 95W | ||||
Radeon Embedded E9172[7] | Oct 2017 | Type-A | Polaris 12 (Lexa) | GCN4 | 512:32:16 | 1.2 | 35W | 82 x 70 mm | |
Radeon Embedded E9174 | 512:32:16 | 1.2 | 50W | ||||||
Radeon Embedded E9260[8] | Sep 2016 | Baffin PRO | 896:56:16 | 2.2 | 50W | ||||
Radeon Embedded E9550[9] | Type-B | Ellesmere XT | 2304:144:32 | 5.8 | 95W | 82 x 105 mm | |||
Nvidia | Tesla M6 | Sep 2015 | Type-B | GM204 | Maxwell | 1536 / 96 / 48 | 3.0 | 100W | 82 x 105 mm |
Quadro K610 Mobile | Jul 2013 | Type-A | GK208 | Kepler | 192 / 16 / 8 | 0.4 | 30W | 80 x 70 mm | |
Quadro K1100 Mobile | GK107 | 384 / 32 / 16 | 0.5 | 45W | |||||
Quadro K2100 Mobile | GK106 | 576 / 48 / 16 | 0.7 | 55W | |||||
Quadro K3100 Mobile | Type-B | GK104 | 768 / 64 / 32 | 1.1 | 75W | 82 x 105 mm | |||
Quadro K5100 Mobile | 1536 / 128 / 32 | 2.4 | 100W | ||||||
Quadro M520 Mobile[10] | Jan 2017 | Type-A | GM108 | Maxwell | 384 / 16 / 8 | 0.8 | 25W | 80 x 70 mm | |
Quadro M620 Mobile[11] | GM107 | 512 / 32 / 16 | 1.0 | 30W | |||||
Quadro M1000M Mobile | Aug 2015 | 512 / 32 / 16 | 1.0 | 40W | |||||
Quadro M1200M Mobile[12] | Jan 2017 | 640 / 40 / 16 | 1.4 | 45W | |||||
Quadro M2000M Mobile | Dec 2015 | 640 / 40 / 16 | 1.4 | 55W | |||||
Quadro M2200M Mobile[13] | Jan 2017 | GM206 | 1024 / 64 / 32 | 2.1 | 55W | ||||
Quadro M3000M Mobile | Aug 2015 | Type-B | GM204 | 1024 / 64 / 32 | 2.1 | 75W | 82 x 105 mm | ||
Quadro M4000M Mobile | 1280 / 80 / 64 | 2.5 | 100W | ||||||
Quadro M5000M Mobile | 1536 / 96 / 64 | 3.0 | 100W | ||||||
Quadro P1000 Mobile | Feb 2017 | Type-A | GP107 | Pascal | 512 / 32 / 16 | 1.6 | 40W | 80 x 70 mm | |
Quadro P2000 Mobile | Feb 2019 | GP106 | 1152 / 72 / 32 | 3.0 | 75W | ||||
Quadro P3000 Mobile[14] | Jan 2017 | Type-B | GP104 | 1280 / 80 / 32 | 3.1 | 75W | 82 x 105 mm | ||
Quadro P3200 Mobile | Feb 2018 | 1792 / 112 / 64 | 5.5 | 75W | |||||
Quadro P4000 Mobile[15] | Jan 2017 | 1792 / 112 / 64 | 4.4 | 100W | |||||
Quadro P4200 Mobile | Feb 2018 | 2304 / 144 / 64 | 7.6 | 100W | |||||
Quadro P5000 Mobile[16] | Jan 2017 | 2048 / 128 / 64 | 6.2 | 100W | |||||
Quadro P5200 Mobile | Feb 2018 | 2560 / 160 / 64 | 8.9 | 100W | |||||
Quadro T1000 Mobile | May 2019 | Type-A | TU117 | Turing | 896 / 56 / 32 | 2.6 | 50W | 82 x 70 mm | |
GeForce GTX 965M[17] | Jan 2016 | Type-A | GM204 | Maxwell | 1024 / 64 / 32 | 2.4 | 75W | 80 x 70 mm | |
GeForce GTX 965M | Oct 2014 | Type-B | 1024 / 64 / 32 | 2.4 | 75W | 82 x 105 mm | |||
GeForce GTX 970M | 2.7 | 75W | |||||||
GeForce GTX 980M | 3.2 | 100W | |||||||
GeForce GTX 980 | Sep 2015 | 4.4 | 180W | 83 x 115 mm | |||||
GeForce GTX 980 | 200W | 102.6 x 115 mm | |||||||
GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile | Jan 2017 | Type-A | GP107 | Pascal | 640 / 60 / 16 | 1.9 | 75W | 82 x 70 mm | |
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile | 768/ 48 / 32 | 2.4 | 75W | 82 x 70 mm | |||||
GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile (Clevo) | May 2017 | Type-B | GP106 | 4.4 | 100W | 100 x 124 mm | |||
GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile (MSI) | 4.3 | 78W | 82 x 105 mm | ||||||
GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile (Clevo) | GP104 | 6.7 | 150W | 100 x 124 mm | |||||
GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile (MSI) | 115W | 94 x 105 mm | |||||||
GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile (Clevo) | 9.1 | 190W | 100 x 124 mm | ||||||
GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile "Type 1" (MSI GT73VR) | 200W | Unknown | |||||||
GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile "Type 2" (MSI GT83) | 150W | 94 x 105 mm | |||||||
GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile (Clevo) | Jan 2019 | Type-B | TU106 | Turing | 4.6 | 80W | 100 x 124 mm | ||
GeForce RTX 2070 Mobile (Clevo) | 6.6 | 115W | |||||||
GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile (Clevo) | TU104 | 9.4 | 150W | ||||||
GeForce RTX 3000 Mobile | May 2019 | TU106 | 1920 / 120 / 64 | 5.3 | 80W | 82 x 105 mm | |||
GeForce RTX 4000 Mobile | TU104 | 2560 / 160 / 64 | 8.0 | 110W | |||||
GeForce RTX 5000 Mobile | 3072 / 192 / 64 | 10.9 | 110W |
*Unified Shaders : Texture Mapping Units : Render Output Units
External links
- MXM-SIG
- [MXM Upgrade] - Site about MXM, with a table of some MXM laptops, detailed upgrade procedures and MXM cards for sale, no longer updated.
- [1] - Nearly complete list of Acer laptops implementing MXM.
- ^ Klaus Hinum (2012-05-26). "Notebook Video Card Upgrade / Replacement". Notebook Check. Archived from the original on 2017-12-10. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
- ^ "MXM Standard 3.1 is the new one (Up from 3.0)". NotebookReview. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
- ^ "MXM Graphics Module". www.mxm-sig.org. Archived from the original on 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
- ^ "AMD FirePro M4000". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
- ^ https://www.amd.com/en/products/professional-graphics/radeon-pro-wx-4150-mobile [bare URL]
- ^ https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-graphics-high-performance [bare URL]
- ^ https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-graphics-power-efficient [bare URL]
- ^ "AMD E9260" (PDF).
- ^ "AMD E9950" (PDF).
- ^ "TechPowerUp". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
- ^ "TechPowerUp". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
- ^ "TechPowerUp". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
- ^ "TechPowerUp". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
- ^ "TechPowerUp". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
- ^ "TechPowerUp". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
- ^ "TechPowerUp". TechPowerUp. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
- ^ "NotebookCheck". NotebookCheck. Retrieved 2022-06-05.