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Gigabyte's GeForce 210 And GT 220

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2:50 AM - 10/12/2009 by Don Woligroski

Let’s take a closer look at the cards that will represent the new GeForce products in our benchmarks today:

With one gigabyte of GDDR3 memory running at 800 MHz (1,600 MHz effective) and an overclocked GPU, the Gigabyte GV-N220OC-1GI represents the best-case-scenario for the GeForce GT 220.

The bundle is standard, with an instruction manual and driver CD in the box.

The card has DVI, HDMI, and VGA outputs. At about 7” long, it’s not very big. But the aftermarket cooler covers most of the card.

The GPU runs at 720 MHz and the shaders at 1,566 MHz, which is quite a bit faster than the reference GeForce GT 220's 625 MHz GPU and 1,360 MHz shader clocks. To save power when idle, both the GPU and memory will spin down to 135 MHz.

Add to this a powerful, quiet aftermarket cooler, and have a GeForce GT 220 that stands above its reference competition. In fact, it’s important to keep this in mind when considering the benchmark results, because most of the GeForce GT 220 cards will probably ship with slower reference GPU clocks and DDR2 memory instead of speedy GDDR3.

Gigabyte’s GeForce 210 entry is also factory overclocked, despite the small cooler.

Like the Gigabyte GeForce GT 220, the card comes with a manual and driver CD, although it’s in a substantially smaller box. There is also a half-height I/O shield for HTPC installations.

The card also sports DVI, HDMI, and VGA outputs. It can be converted to a half-height card by changing the I/O shield, but you’ll have to give up the VGA output. A DVI-to-VGA converter would have been a nice touch for folks who plan to do this, but none are included.

Not quite 7” long, this board is about as long as Gigabyte’s GeForce GT 220. But it appears very small due to the low-profile PCB.

With a 650 MHz GPU and 1,547 MHz shader clocks, it’s substantially faster than the reference 589 MHz GPU and 1,402 MHz shader speeds. However, the 512MB DDR2 memory runs at 400 MHz (800 MHz DDR), a little slower than the 500 MHz (1,000 MHz DDR) reference memory clock.

Talkback
kalliman 10/12/2009 9:12 AM
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Too late for nVidia. They should release these cards 1 year ago...

ColMirage 10/12/2009 9:13 AM
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Soooo tiny itsy bitsy!

lemonade4 10/12/2009 9:25 AM
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Proximon 10/12/2009 9:30 AM
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They have a lot of loyal folks looking to save money these days, so they'll move some 220's. So fans will appreciate the cards.

apache_lives 10/12/2009 9:30 AM
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hmmm i can see amd stomping this thing shortly with a DX11 part - kalliman is right, this is way too late in the market

as for the gt300 - also bad news if the info i have heard is correct - 6 months away is not good for nvidia

lashabane 10/12/2009 9:35 AM
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And to answer your question - No, it cannot play Crysis.

Anonymous 10/12/2009 10:03 AM
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IzzyCraft 10/12/2009 10:09 AM
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apache_lives :
hmmm i can see amd stomping this thing shortly with a DX11 part - kalliman is right, this is way too late in the marketas for the gt300 - also bad news if the info i have heard is correct - 6 months away is not good for nvidia


The 210 220 i'm pretty sure are OEM parts this is more like a proof/test of what nvidia can do, then a market move. They are nothing more then media cards meant for random dell's/gateway random desktops for people who don't really know what's in their computers.

apache_lives 10/12/2009 10:10 AM
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idk :
why do i feel like mac?



because they cant play crysis either?

apache_lives 10/12/2009 10:16 AM
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IzzyCraft :
The 210 220 i'm pretty sure are OEM parts this is more like a proof/test of what nvidia can do, then a market move. They are nothing more then media cards meant for random dell's/gateway random desktops for people who don't really know what's in their computers.



like nvidia 8300's and 9300's - never heard of them till i worked on a few HP's

scrumworks 10/12/2009 10:17 AM
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This is the first time Tom's has run HAWX with DX10.1 support enabled. Those countless reviews with HD4xxx this support was not used. Does this imply something obvious?

Cleeve 10/12/2009 10:20 AM
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IzzyCraft :
The 210 220 i'm pretty sure are OEM parts this is more like a proof/test of what nvidia can do, then a market move.



They're retail now.

Check Newegg, they can be purchased already. Today is the official launch of the retail cards, although they've been available for a few days now.

scrumworks 10/12/2009 10:21 AM
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I forgot to add that article writer seems not to have any idea what DX10.1 is all about when running HAWX without AA. Let me clarify: DX10.1 is about improving AA performance.

americanbrian 10/12/2009 11:10 AM
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Well scrumworks,

Seeing as these cards cannot perform well on basic settings at low resolutions it would seem that enabling AA for these cards is a moot point.

joeman42 10/12/2009 11:16 AM
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Why do you keep making the same damn error? The 9600GSO/8800GS variant (96SP/192b) described is no longer being made. Only the 48SP/256b and 96SP/128b are available. Both are inferior to the original. At least make mention of this.

joeman42 10/12/2009 11:16 AM
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StumpyStumped 10/12/2009 11:49 AM
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I don't see the point of these cards, 9500GT have similar power and performance and costs less. 9600GT green version would have similar power output but twice the performance of GT220 so again it's getting pwned.

shubham1401 10/12/2009 11:53 AM
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Fail!

JohnnyMash 10/12/2009 12:48 PM
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"..the GT200 family's naming convention. Let's have a closer look at what they actually contain."

Oh touchè! ;-)

liemfukliang 10/12/2009 1:36 PM
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If only Nvidia have something to make consumen confuse like:
Pure Video HD 4
DX 11

If not than I thing I will buy 9600 GT. Thank you....


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