Galaxy G210 and GT 220 review : Arrival of Nvidia’s 40nm DX10.1 video cards

With all the recent leaks, rumors, announcements and launches of high end parts in both the red and the green camps over the past few months, low and midrange cards have taken a back seat. That changes today. Although Nvidia has announced its next generation “Fermi” architecture and released the details of its internal architecture, today they are showing off what they have been doing for the past few months.

Let’s say that the cards that launched today serve as testing ground for the bigger brothers coming down to the road to tackle Evergreen family. This means that Nvidia’s upcoming cards based on Fermi architecture will be based on 40nm fab process. Current Nvidia GPUs are manufactured using the 55nm process. Usually when you transition to a new fab process, yields are low in the beginning. Seeing that Nvidia’s next generation parts are made up of more than 3 billion transistors, it would not be wise to manufacture them on 40nm process for two reasons:

• Yields are low at the beginning coupled with the reports of TSMC’s troubles with the 40nm process.
• You do not want to induce errors into your multi-billion dollar chip due to inexperience with a new process.

Thus today’s low-mid range launch cards serve as practice for Nvidia on the 40nm process  much like ATI did with the HD 4770 before launching their new architecture on the new process.

Some of the firsts for Nvidia today are:

• First 40nm GPUs from Nvidia
• First GPUs from Nvidia to support DX10.1

We will be comparing the the G210 and the GT220 to the HD 4650, which is the lowest performing card that I have in my video card suite and also checking out the performance in 3DMark benchmarks, games and video playback.

Specifications

Test System

• AMD Phenom II X2 550 @ Stock 3.1 GHz
• GIGABYTE MA770T-UD3P
• Crucial 4GB (2x2GB DDR3) 1333 MHz
• Seagate 1 TB 7200.12
• ATI Radeon HD 4650
• Galaxy GeForce G210
• Galaxy GeForce GT220
• Nvidia 190.03 Beta Drivers
• ATI Catalyst 9.9 Suite

Benchmarking notes

Since the G210 was the weakest card in the testing, I benchmarked it first. All of the settings in the games were set so that the G210 was running close to 25 FPS on average in them. Then the GT220 and the HD 4650 were benchmarked at the same settings.

GPU-Z Shots

A special build of GPU-Z was used for the above images as GPU-Z 0.3.5 is not able to detect these cards. A new version with G210 and GT220 support should be launched pretty soon.

Temperature

As the main intended use of G210 is for HTPC, readers will be looking to see how hot this GPU gets. Let’s take a look. We fired up our freshly downloaded copy of Furmark 1.7.0 and rendered the fur at 640×480 with no AA.

Furmark represents one of the most intensive tests a GPU can run. Thus temperatures and power consumption measured with Furmark represent the worst-case scenario. Although no game today puts as much load on the GPU as Furmark does, should a game do that in future, you will be ready armed with the knowledge gained by testing with Furmark – knowing how hot your card can get and how much power it can consume.

According to its developer, “Furmark is a very intensive OpenGL benchmark that uses fur rendering algorithms to measure the performance of the graphics card. Fur rendering is especially adapted to overheat the GPU and that’s why FurMark is also a perfect stability and stress test tool (also called GPU burner) for the graphics card. This benchmark requires an OpenGL 2.0 compliant graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 5/6/7/8 (and higher), AMD/ATI Radeon 9600 (and higher) or a S3 Graphics Chrome 400 series with the latest graphics drivers.”

Furmark was left running for a period of 10 minutes after which the final load temperature was measured. The ambient temperature was 25-26C.

Readers will be pleased to know that the G210 is a very cool card, even under Furmark load. The G210 shouldn’t get this hot in HTPC systems which means that you can compromise on the airflow and build a quiet HTPC system around it.

Overclocking

Whenever a new fabrication process comes to the market, one thought that travels through every enthusiast’s mind is about the overclocking potential of the card. Common consensus is that the smaller the fabrication process becomes, the overclocking potential increases due to decreased heat output.

Furmark Stability test was used to find the maximum stable overclock. We used EVGA’s Precision Tuner for overclocking. After all the dust was settled, here are the overclocked frequencies.

G210 – 710 MHz Core (20.5 %) – 1200 MHz (DDR) Memory (50 %) – 1690 Shaders (14.7 %) (Stock – 589 MHz Core – 800 MHz (DDR) Memory – 1402 Shaders)

GT220 – 825 Mhz Core (32.5 %) – 950 MHz DDR memory (18.8 %) – 1795 Shaders (32 %) (Stock – 625 MHz Core – 800 MHz (DDR) Memory – 1360 Shaders)

Both of the cards showed some impressive overclocking potential. The DDR2 memory was the highlight on the G210 showing a 50% overclock and running at 1200 MHz. This is DDR2 memory running at 1200 MHz people! Amazing.

The GT220 showed impressive gains on its core and shaders with nearly 33 % improvement.

Power Usage (Total System Consumption)

Furmark 1.7.0 was run in extreme burning mode with the fur rendered at 640×480 with no AA. Measuring power usage with Furmark is the worst case scenario. Normally games are never able to put so much load on the GPU as Furmark does.

I was a little disappointed seeing the power consumption of these new cards when compared to a HD 4650, considering the difference in fab process (40nm vs 55nm). But the G210 is an interesting little card. You can build a HTPC box around it that consumes around 70-75W during video playback.

Eye Candy

We have made a special unboxing video in HD for you to enjoy

G210

Straight out of the box, we see that this is a low-profile card featuring a small cooler with DVI, VGA and HDMI as output options. The cooler is really quiet as the GPU is not too complicated and doesn’t really need to be cooled a lot. In fact, it is my opinion that Galaxy could have gotten by using a passive cooling solution on this video card, making it the perfect HTPC (Home Theater PC) card. But in its current form the fan is not an issue. The card uses a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot, a formality on any discrete GPU worth selling today.

A feature that NVIDIA has neglected until now and one that ATI/AMD has been using is how the audio is delivered through the video card to your home theater setup. ATI cards since the HD 2xxx generation have been able to carry sound using the DVI-HDMI adapters to your home theater setup. The audio from your sound card can be passed to the card through the PCIe connector. On the other hand Nvidia video cards have required a flimsy a S/PDIF cable to be connected between your sound card and the Nvidia video card to be able to route the audio through the video card. The cards that Galaxy are launching today have an onboard HDMI audio processor. According to my knowledge, they are the first manufacturer to add such kind of support. This means you no longer need any flimsy cabling inside your case between the sound card and the video card. This should bring even more joy to users looking to use these cards for HTPCs.

GT220

The GT220 is a much beefier GPU with 48 shaders, so a better cooling solution is in order. The fan in its automatic operation stays quiet and doesn’t need to ramp up in 3D gaming as the 40nm GT216 GPU stays cool. But if set to 100% manually, it can be quite bothersome.

The output options remain the same as on the G210; i.e. HDMI, VGA and DVI bringing joy to the HTPC users who find the HDMI output critical to their application. Galaxy has been delivering HDMI outputs on older cards like 9600 GT and GTS 250 that we reviewed here and here. Kudos to Galaxy for catering to the HTPC users.

Both of the cards do not require a power connector which should be expected since they are manufactured on a 40nm process and are lower end models.

3DMark 06

3DMark06 is a PC benchmark suite designed to test the DirectX9 performance of your graphics card. 3DMark06 is the most downloaded benchmark and the ORB database of 3DMark 06 results, maintained by Futuremark, now contains over 8.5 million 3DMark06 benchmark scores from around the world. Three main graphic tests from 3DMark05 were carried over to 3DMark06 and updated. The tests included in 3DMark 06 feature HDR rendering, shadow mapping, water surfaces created using pixel shaders with HDR refraction, HDR reflection, depth fog and Gerstner wave functions, heterogeneous fog, light scattering and cloud blending, etc.

3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed to test the DirectX10 performance of your graphics card. It is the latest addition to the 3DMark series. As it is a DX10-only benchmark, it only runs on Windows Vista and Windows 7. 3DMark Vantage is composed of four full-bore benchmarking tests (2 CPU tests and 2 GPU tests) and 6 feature tests. This test makes good use of multi-core CPUs and can even use Nvidia’s PhysX technology on its GeForce lineup of video cards.

Both the cards lost to HD 4650 by a fair margin. GT220 was able to make up some lost ground under overclocked condition.

Although you should never go by just synthetic benchmarks such as 3DMark to compare GPUs, but they do give an expected result of how GPUs compare with each other performance wise. But the games are a different story altogether as you shall see on the next few pages.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare was one of the most successful games of 2007.  It was the top-selling game worldwide for 2007, selling over seven million copies by January 2008. It uses a proprietary game engine that includes features such as true world-dynamic lightning, HDR lighting effects, dynamics shadows, and depth of field. It features a fictional story set in the near-future. The most well-received part of the game is its multiplayer modes, where you earn experience points for kills and completing certain tasks online. These experience points unlock certain abilities and new and more powerful guns which can tip the balance in your favor in online matches.

For testing this game, I recorded a timedemo on the “Vacant” map. The demo was recorded while trying to capture some of the most graphically intense sections of the game like throwing a smoke grenade and then walking and shooting in it which really brings all the cards to their knees resulting in the minimum FPS. The demo was played back at normal speed with the demo command from the console and the results were recorded by FRAPS

The G210 is barely able to provide playable framerates. Perhaps if you own this card it would be wise to lower the settings and resolution even further. But the GT220 almost catches the HD 4650 once it is overclocked.

GRID

Race Driver: GRID is the latest addition to the TOCA Touring Car series by Codemasters. GRID is a hybrid between arcade and simulator of mainly road racing that consists of 43 cars featuring very fast racing, awesome graphics, along with a great damage model that leads to some of the most fantastic crashes we have seen in a game. There are several types of competitions for different cars: GT races, open wheel races, demolition derbies, etc.  There are also several tracks from different countries, including Japan, the United States and European tracks, such as Le Mans and Spa Francorchamps.  A track racing through the streets of Milan is also available.

I use the GRID Demo v1.1 for the benchmark. I take the first place in the first lap and use the second lap for benchmarking purposes.

Here are the settings we used:

The G210 is able to provide smooth playable framerate in this game albeit at the lowest settings. The GT 220 fares a lot better, more than doubling the performance of the G210 but that is to be expected considering it has 3 times the shaders of the G210. You should be able to play the game at higher quality settings on the GT220 easily.

HAWX

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. (”High Altitude Warfare eXperimental squadron”) is an aerial warfare video game developed by Ubisoft Romania and published by Ubisoft.  Players have the opportunity to take the throttle of over 50 famous aircraft and fly them over real world locations and cities in photo-realistic environments created with satellite data. This game is a more of an arcade take on flying, with the aircraft able to do drifts in mid air like a car does on the road. The controls are easy with the aircraft handling more like a car but it is an immensely fun game.

Settings Used:

For the first time in our benchmarking, the GT 220 is able to overcome the HD 4650 almost leading the benchmark, just losing out in the middle. The G210 is able to provide playable framerates, a notable feat in its own as many graphic settings are set to high.

Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter is one of the most popular and historical games. First released by Capcom for arcades in 1987, it has wowed gamers all around the world ever since. Street Fighter IV is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom for the arcades since 1999. It was released for coin-operated arcade machines in July 2008; for consoles in February, 2009 and the PC got its version in July, 2009. Street Fighter IV sold more than 2.5 million copies since its release.

It features models and backgrounds rendered in 3D while the gameplay takes place in a traditional 2D plane.

A benchmark for the PC version can be downloaded from here.

Here are the settings used:

Another good showing by the G210 as it is able to provide playable framerate when overclocked even when most of the graphic settings are on high. And another win for the overclocked GT220 over the HD 4650.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, previously known as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost, is a first-person shooter computer game by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, published in 2007. It features an alternate reality theme, where a second nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the near future and causes strange changes in the area around it. It features a non-linear storyline which feature role-playing gameplay elements such as trading and allying with NPC factions. The player assumes the identity of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.; an illegal artifact scavenger in “The Zone” which encompasses roughly 30 square kilometers.

We are using a custom recorded timedemo for benchmark purposes. The Steam version of this game is used. Here are the settings used:

The HD 4650 is just too strong for Nvidia cards to handle in this game. The G210 is able to provide smooth framerates even though the maximum graphic setting preset is used. Only gripe is that static lighting is used instead of fully dynamic lighting which really kills the performance on these cards. The GT220 turns out better but can’t catch the HD 4650 which is miles ahead.

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is a team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve.  A sequel to Valve’s previous Team Fortress Classic, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box, which featured games like Half Life 2:Episode 2 and Portal. Team Fortress 2 is focused around two opposing teams competing for an objective. Players can choose to play as one of nine classes in these teams, each with his own unique strengths and weaknesses.

This game gives a good idea of performance of other games based on Valve’s source engine. We are using a custom recorded timedemo for benchmarking.

Here are the settings used:

The overclocked GT220 wins in average framerate comparison with the HD 4650 but loses out in minimum FPS. Still both of the cards managed to offer pretty smooth framerates even at maximum settings in this popular online shooter. If you are an avid Team Fortress 2 player looking to pick up a video card on the cheap, the Galaxy’s G210 or the GT220 should be all you need.

Video Playback

Free software such as Media Player Classic Home Cinema can use GPU acceleration using DXVA (DirectX Video Acceleration) protocol. As this card could be used for a HTPC-gaming rig, we decided to check out its Full-HD video playback capabilities.

I used Media Player Classic Home Cinema for the playback. The video used was the trailer of movie “The International” available from Divx 7 HD showcase Webpage. This is a 12.3 Mbps 1920×816 video. Here’s the image with video info

The average CPU usage was measured with Performance Monitor module included in Windows Vista. The video was played back 5 times and results averaged to eliminate any errors.

There is not much difference here as all of the GPUs are able to keep the CPU usage on a dual core CPU below 20% which is very good. This means that you will be able to enjoy smooth Full HD video playback on your system using GPU acceleration.

Conclusion

Before we reach a conclusion, I would like to tell you the price points that these cards will be selling at.

G210 – $49.99 to $69.99

GT220 – $89.99 to 109.99

If you try to compare these cards to previous cards in Nvidia’s lineup, you will find that the G210 is similar to 9400 GT and GT220 is similar to 9600 GSO 512 if you go by the number of shaders in each GPU. But the new GPUs offer added DX10.1 capabilities along with reduced power consumption due to moving to the 40nm fab process.

I feel the prices are little on the higher side for e-tail, but Galaxy also sells their cards at Best Buy retail stores where prices are normally inflated on low-midrange video cards. If you compare the video card prices at Best Buy on this page, you will find that the 9400 GT is selling for $74.99 & $89.99. So the new G210 with it’s $49.99-$69.99 price point offers better value for your dollar while running cooler and consuming less power.

The GT220 after overclocking managed to overcome the HD 4650 (GDDR3) in 3 of our game tests, while remaining just a little behind in the another 2 and got badly beaten in 1. The HD 4650 selling at Best Buy for $99.99 is the DDR2 version which will offer a little less performance than the one we used in our benchmarking. As a result, the difference between the GT220 and the HD 4650 (DDR2) would be a little less. Add to that the ability to use the GT220 as a PhysX accelerator in the latest games such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, Darkest of Days, video encoding using Mediacoder (Free) or Badaboom ($29.99) and the GT220 suddenly looks like an interesting proposition.

The best feature that I like about these cards is the addition of an onboard HDMI audio processor, which eliminates the need for connecting a S/PDIF cable from your sound card to the video card. This is a feature that other manufacturers should also adopt to make it easy to use Nvidia cards for HTPC use.

G210

Pros –

• DX10.1
• Low Power Consumption
• Runs Cool
• Great HTPC card
• Quiet
• Onboard HDMI audio processor

Cons –

• Not fit for high quality gaming

GT220

Pros –

• DX10.1
• Good performance
• Quiet
• Onboard HDMI audio processor

Cons-

• Disappointing power consumption when compared with 55nm based HD 4650

I would like to award these cards ABT’s Innovation award and Good Value award.

«1. Introduction2. Specifications, Test System & Benchmarking Notes3. Temperature, Overclocking & Power Consumption4. Unboxing Video & Image Gallery 5. 3D Mark 06 & 3DMark Vantage6. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare7. GRID8. H.A.W.X.9. Street Fighter IV10. STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl11. Team Fortress 212. Video Playback13. Conclusion14. View All»