The green team today announced the GTX 580M and GTX 570M, the newest high-end GPUs for gaming laptops. These parts succeed the GTX 485M and GTX 470M, respectively. According to NVIDIA, the GTX 580M will be the quickest mobile graphics solution on the market, while the GTX 570M will be 20% faster than the 470M it replaces.

Gaming performance samples show a substantial improvement over the previous generation. According to the press material, a single GTX 580M is capable of outputting over 30 frames per second at 1920×1080 at high detail in various games including Crysis 2, DIRT3, and Civilization V. These high marks are only further improved when the two GPUs are placed into SLI. In Crysis 2, for example, this configuration achieves over 70 FPS with detail set to Extreme Quality.

Both the GTX 580M and 570M will support all of the company’s typical hardware features including PhysX, Nvidia 3D Vision, 3DTV Play, SLI, CUDA and OpenCL. In addition to this, these new mobile solutions will offer support of Optimus.

This is the first time that Optimus support has been offered in high-end mobile GPUs, and it could provide the green team with a significant advantage. In past reviews of Optimus enabled laptops, such as the ASUS N53, we’ve found that the feature made it possible to offer battery life on par with laptops that don’t have a discrete GPU. Optimus in the 580M and 570M will likely replicate this, making it possible for gamers to enjoy extreme gaming performance while plugged in and reasonable battery life while on the go.

NVIDIA also continues to push its NVIDIA Verde driver program. For those who missed the initial announcement, Verde can be summed up as a monthly driver release program. The goal is to consistently improve performance and stability, giving owners of Nvidia GPUs a better long-term experience. Driver updates have proven to increase performance in the past, sometimes significantly, so these monthly updates are welcome.

The initial wave of 580M mobile graphics will be found in three laptops: the Alienware M18x, the Clevo P170HM3, and the Clevo P270WM. It’s reasonable to expect that both Clevo models will be picked up by various companies, such as Origin and Maingear, and released with some modifications under those brands. MSI will be the only company launching a 570M equipped laptop, in this case the MSI GT780R. Pricing has yet to be announced.

With the release of these new parts, NVIDIA has converted nearly all of its current components to the 5xx series brand. Only the “mainstream” GeForce 315M and 410M remain outside the fold.

UPDATE: Need some more proof of the power of the GTX 580M?  Here it is seen running the brand-new DX11 variant of Crysis 2: