GeForce GT 220 And 210: DirectX 10.1 And 40nm Under $80
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. GeForce GT220 And 210: Speeds And Feeds
- 3. Gigabyte's GeForce 210 And GT 220
- 4. The Competition: Radeon HDs And GeForces
- 5. The Competition, Continued
- 6. Test System And Benchmarks
- 7. Synthetic Benchmarks: 3DMark Vantage
- 8. Game Benchmarks: Crysis
- 9. Game Benchmarks: Far Cry 2
- 10. Game Benchmarks: World In Conflict
- 11. Game Benchmarks: Resident Evil 5
- 12. Game Benchmarks: Fallout 3
- 13. Game Benchmarks: Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
- 14. Game Benchmarks: Left 4 Dead
- 15. Game Benchmarks: Anti-Aliasing And Anisotropic Filtering
- 16. Power And Temperature
- 17. HD Video Playback: HQV Blu-ray Benchmark
- 18. Conclusion
There's an old adage associated with automobile racing: "what wins on Sunday, sells on Monday." The idea is that if a car manufacturer's product makes it to the winner's circle on the "weekend," then that technology might lead to more sales at the dealership down the road.
The PC graphics card industry has demonstrated an uncanny parallel with the automotive sector in this respect. The manufacturer that delivers drool-worthy enthusiast hardware at the high-end gets a lot of positive momentum that trickles down to the guy who walks into the local computer store looking for a new entry-level graphics card.
Nvidia and AMD have engaged in a battle for supremacy for the top-performing graphics card for years now. But their bread and butter comes from the more pedestrian models that represent the boards most folks can actually afford. The sub-$80 market represents a very diverse model selection with the least price differential, along with the tightest margins. This space is often used as a test market for new technologies (most recently, ATI used the $100 price point to test its transition to 40nm manufacturing, for example).
Enter Nvidia's new GeForce 210- and GT 220-based discrete graphics cards. While these models aren't intended to represent the cutting edge of performance, they do represent some important hallmarks for Nvidia. Mainly, these are the first Nvidia GPUs to use TSMC's 40nm process and sport DirectX 10.1 support. Could this be foreshadowing of die-shrinks to come in the next couple of months? That'd likely be a very fair assessment.
You might also notice that these are Nvidia's first sub-$100 GPUs to migrate to the GT200 family's naming convention. Let's have a closer look at what they actually contain.
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Too late for nVidia. They should release these cards 1 year ago...
Soooo tiny itsy bitsy!
This is a nice article that points out nVidia's step into the development of 40nm chips for the market even though they didn't really cause any changes in the sub-$100 video card market. They just seemed to make it even more crowded. I can't wait for the GT300 reviews though.
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.
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
And to answer your question - No, it cannot play Crysis.
why do i feel like mac?
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.
why do i feel like mac?
because they cant play crysis either?
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fail!
"..the GT200 family's naming convention. Let's have a closer look at what they actually contain."
Oh touchè! ;-)
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....
mmm, you have to wonder why they released these cards now, just before Windows 7 launch. I think its because they want to give mew buyers the latest technology at a very affordable price (unlike the 58xx which costs a fair amount).
So new buyers will opt for this card, not thinking of performance gains, rather thinking they have the newest with 10.1 drivers which works o so sweet with W7 (so were told).
Me, atleast we know what Nvidia is coming up with, and i`m sure it will give ATI a run for there money, and this is coming from a ATI fan!