Nvidia GeForce 200 series

Nvidia GeForce GTX 280

The GeForce 200-series is a series of desktop - graphics chip company Nvidia and successor of the GeForce 9 series . All graphics processors of this series support the Shader model 4.0 (SM 4.0) according to DirectX 10, OpenGL 3.3, CUDA and thus also PhysX .

description

On June 16, 2008, Nvidia presented the GeForce GTX 280 and 260, on which the GT200 chip is installed. This was more than 1.4 billion transistors by the hitherto most complex and with the face of 576 mm and the largest GPU, which had been built on a graphics card. The GT200 is based on the unified shader architecture of the G80 graphics processor , but has been provided with various improvements. On the one hand, it has been optimized with regard to CUDA applications, for example a memory buffer has been integrated between the stream processors and the register size has been increased. In addition, with the help of arithmetic units inserted especially for this purpose, the GT200 also supports calculations with double precision , while its predecessors only mastered single precision . As the chip grew, the number of stream processors per cluster was increased from 16 to 24. This also increased the ratio of shaders to TMUs from 2: 1 for the G80 and G92 to 3: 1. Aside from further optimizations of the chip, such as the improvements to the thread scheduler , a power-saving function was introduced so that despite higher computing power and higher load consumption in 2D mode, the consumption of the predecessor is lower. Manufacturing in 65 nm proved to be disadvantageous, as AMD had the Radeon HD 4000 series manufactured in the 55 nm process and was thus able to work more cost-effectively.

GeForce GTX 260 from MSI with an alternative cooler design

GeForce GTX 260 from XFX with reference cooler

The GeForce GTX 280 has roughly the same performance as the dual-chip graphics card GeForce 9800 GX2 . After the successful previous series, the GTX 280 could not meet the sometimes very high expectations, although it was the fastest graphics card on the market until the introduction of the Radeon HD 4870 X2 . On the GeForce GTX 260, two clusters of the GT200 GPU are deactivated (i.e. still 192 active stream processors) and the memory interface and memory expansion are reduced. Since AMD's Radeon HD 4870, which is roughly the same speed, was offered at significantly lower prices on the market, Nvidia revised the GTX 260. On September 16, 2008, the GeForce GTX 260 with 216 stream processors was presented. With this only one shader cluster is deactivated, which increases the performance somewhat. As a result, the revised GTX 260 sold much more successfully on the market.

On December 18, 2008, Nvidia officially announced the GeForce GTX 295 dual GPU graphics card for January 8, 2009, with which Nvidia again produced the most powerful graphics card on the market. The GTX 295 initially consisted of two individual circuit boards, which were put together in a so-called "sandwich" design. To reduce production costs, Nvidia switched to a simpler single board layout in May 2009, on which both graphics cores are placed. The revised GeForce GTX 295 was presented by Nvidia's board partners at Computex in June 2009. Also on January 8th, the GeForce GTX 285, which replaces the GeForce GTX 280, was officially presented. Although it was already available at the launch, the official launch of the GeForce GTX 285 has been postponed to January 15th. Compared to its predecessor, the GTX 285 had a performance improvement of around 10%, while at the same time the power consumption could be reduced so much that two 6-pin connectors are now required instead of one 6-pin and one 8-pin (see text ) . Although the GTX 285, just like the GTX 295, has what is known as a “coil whine” under certain circumstances, it has been sold relatively successfully on the market. This is generally attributed to the fact that the GTX 285 could be offered significantly cheaper than its predecessor and, due to the lack of competing products, it assumed a monopoly position as the fastest single GPU card. It was unexpected for observers that Nvidia had removed the HybridPower mode from the GeForce GTX 295 and GTX 285 . Both cards are based on the GT200b chip (unofficially also known as GT206), which is a 55 nm derivative of the GT200 chip. Nvidia had already delivered the GTX 260 with the new GT200b chip in December 2008.

On March 3rd, 2009 Nvidia announced the GeForce GTS 250 for March 10th at CeBIT . The GeForce 200 series was officially expanded to include the performance sector. However, the GTS 250 is a new edition of the GeForce 9800 GTX + , which is still based on the G92 chip. Since this was already used in the GeForce 8 series , Nvidia came under fire for the naming. In contrast to previous new editions, the GTS 250 is not a pure remake, as Nvidia made various changes to the circuit board layout, doubled the video memory to 1024 MB and built in an energy-saving mode. Nvidia initially decided against a new edition of the GeForce 9800 GT under the name GeForce GTS 240, which was also expected . On July 24th, 2009 Nvidia presented these with slightly increased clock rates for the OEM market .

When AMD brought the Radeon HD 4890 onto the market on April 2nd, Nvidia responded on the same day with the presentation of the GeForce GTX 275 based on the GT200b chip. However, in contrast to the competing card, this was not yet widely available on the market, which is why one speaks of a so-called "paper launch". Both cards offer roughly the performance of the GeForce GTX 280, which is no longer in production, and are positioned exactly between the GTX 260 (216 SPs) and GTX 285. On the GeForce GTX 275, just like on the GTX 285, all shader clusters are activated. However, the GT200b chip is operated with a higher core voltage, which leads to a slightly higher power consumption despite the reduced clock rates (see text ).

Nvidia presented the first cards based on the 40 nm GT21x GPUs on June 15, 2009. However, these were notebook graphics cards from the GeForce 200M series . The first desktop cards followed on July 8th, the GeForce G210 and GT 220 for the OEM market . The graphics processors GT216 and GT218 were installed on these. After the notebook series, Nvidia introduced DirectX 10.1 to the desktop market for the first time with these two cards . OEM manufacturers have been installing graphics cards under the name GeForce GT 230 since the beginning of 2009, which is a new edition of the older GeForce 9600 GT . The cards do not correspond to any reference design and are not officially managed by Nvidia. On October 12, 2009, Nvidia introduced the GeForce G210 and GT 220 to the retail market, expanding the GeForce 200 series to the mainstream and low-budget sector. However, the GeForce G210 was renamed GeForce 210 and the GT 220 was delivered with slightly higher clock rates. On November 17, 2009 Nvidia placed the GeForce GT 240 in the mainstream sector, which replaced the successful GeForce 9600 GT , whose performance it also showed. The GT 240 is based on the GT215 graphics processor, which has been installed on the GeForce GTS 250M and GTS 260M mobile graphics cards since summer 2009 . Nvidia decided not to finish the GT212 graphics processor, which was already listed in beta driver 185.20.

Graphics processors

Graphics chip	production			units						L2 cache	API support			Video pro- cessor	Bus interface stelle
	production process	transis- interfere	The - area	ROP particle functions	ROPs	Unified shaders		Texture units			DirectX	OpenGL	OpenCL
						Stream processors	Shader - cluster	TAUs	TMUs
G92b	55 nm	0754 million	276 mm²	4th	16	128	08th	64	64	k. A.	10.0	3.3	1.1	VP2	PCIe 2.0
GT200 / b	65/55 nm	1,400 million	576/470 mm²	8th	32	240	10	80	80
GT215	40 nm	0727 million	133 mm²	4th	16	096	04th	32	32		10.1			VP4
GT216		0486 million	100 mm²	2	08th	048	02	16	16
GT218		0260 million	057 mm²	1	04th	016	01	08th	08th

Naming

Nvidia introduced a new naming scheme for the GeForce 200 series. All graphics chips are identified with a letter abbreviation to classify the performance sector and a three-digit number that generally begins with a 2 (for GeForce 200). The last two digits serve for further differentiation within the respective service sector.

Letter abbreviation:

• G or no prefix - low budget
• GT - mainstream
• GTS - performance
• GTX - high-end

Due to the general drop in prices on the market and currency fluctuations, Nvidia's original classifications do not generally apply.

Model data

model	Official launch	Graphics processor (GPU)							Graphics memory
		Type	Active units				Chip clock (MHz)	Shader clock (MHz)	Size ( MB )	Clock rate (MHz)	Type	Storage interface
			ROPs	Shader - cluster	Stream processors	Texture units
GeForce 205	Nov 25, 2009	GT218	4th	1	8th	4 or 8	589	1402	512	500	DDR2	064 bit
GeForce 210	Oct 12, 2009	GT218	4th	1	16	8th	589	1402	512	500	DDR2	064 bit
GeForce G210	0Jul 8, 2009
GeForce GT 220	0Jul 8, 2009	GT216	8th	2	48	16	615	1335	1024	790	DDR3	128 bit
	Oct 12, 2009						625	1360	512	1000	GDDR3
GeForce GT 240	Nov 17, 2009	GT215	16	4th	96	32	550	1340	1024	790-1000	DDR3	128 bit
									512	1700 (850)	GDDR5
GeForce GTS 240	Jul 24, 2009	G92b	16	7th	112	56	675	1620	1024	1100	GDDR3	256 bit
GeForce GTS 250	March 10, 2009	G92b	16	8th	128	64	738	1836	512 1024	1100	GDDR3	256 bit
GeForce GTX 260	Jun 16, 2008	GT200	28	8th	192	64	576	1242	896	999	GDDR3	448 bits
	16 Sep 2008			9	216	72
	Dec 22, 2008	GT200b
GeForce GTX 275	0Apr 2, 2009	GT200b	28	10	240	80	633	1404	896	1134	GDDR3	448 bits
GeForce GTX 280	Jun 16, 2008	GT200	32	10	240	80	602	1296	1024	1107	GDDR3	512 bits
GeForce GTX 285	Jan 15, 2009	GT200b	32	10	240	80	648	1476	1024	1242	GDDR3	512 bits
GeForce GTX 295	0Jan. 8, 2009	2 × GT200b	2 × 28	2 × 10	2 × 240	2 × 80	576	1242	2 × 896	999	GDDR3	2 × 448 bits

Hints:

• The specified clock rates are those recommended or specified by Nvidia. However, the final determination of the clock rates is in the hands of the respective graphics card manufacturer. It is therefore entirely possible that there are or will be graphics card models that have different clock rates.
• The date indicated is the date of the public presentation, not the date of availability of the models.
• The clock frequency of the memory is also often given as twice as high. The reason for this is the double data rate (DDR).

Performance data

The following theoretical performance data result for the respective models:

model	Graphics processor / memory
	Computing power of the stream processors in GFlops	Pixel fill rate in GPixel / s	Texel fill rate in GTexel / s	Data transfer rate in GB / s
GeForce 205	33.6	2.4	2.4 or 4.7	8th
GeForce 210	67.3	2.4	4.7	8th
GeForce G210
GeForce GT 220	192.2	4.9	9.8	25.3
	195.8	5.0	10.0	32
GeForce GT 240	385.9	8.8	17.6	25.3-32
				54.4
GeForce GTS 240	544.3	10.8	37.8	70.4
GeForce GTS 250	705	11.8	47.2	70.4
GeForce GTX 260	715.4	16.1	36.9	111.9
GeForce GTX 260 (216 SPs)	804.8		41.5
GeForce GTX 275	1010.9	17.7	50.6	127.0
GeForce GTX 280	933.1	19.3	48.2	141.7
GeForce GTX 285	1062.7	20.7	51.8	159.0
GeForce GTX 295	2 x 894.2	2 x 16.1	2 x 46.1	2 x 111.9

Hints:

• The specified performance values ​​for the computing power via the stream processors, the pixel fill rate, the texel fill rate and the memory bandwidth are theoretical maximum values. The overall performance of a graphics card depends, among other things, on how well the available resources can be used or fully utilized. There are also other factors that are not listed here that affect performance.
• The specified computing power via the stream processors refers to the use of both MUL operations, which is not achieved with graphics shader calculations, since further calculations have to be carried out. In these calculations, the computing power of the stream processors is therefore lower.

Power consumption data

The measured values ​​listed in the table relate to the pure power consumption of graphics cards that correspond to the Nvidia reference design. A special measuring device is required to measure these values; Depending on the measurement technology used and the given measurement conditions, including the program used to generate the 3D load, the values ​​can fluctuate between different devices. Therefore, measured value ranges are given here, each representing the lowest and highest measured values ​​from different sources.

model	Type	Consumption ( watt )			additional power plug
		MGCP	Readings
			Idle	3D load
GeForce 205	GT218	030.5	k. A.	k. A.	no
GeForce 210	GT218	030.5	9	21st	no
GeForce G210
GeForce GT 220	GT216	058	10-14	32-55	no
GeForce GT 240	GT215	069	k. A.	k. A.	no
GeForce GTS 240	G92b	120	k. A.	k. A.	1 × 6 pin
GeForce GTS 250	G92b	150	k. A.	k. A.	1 × 6 pin
GeForce GTX 260	GT200	182	32	166	2 × 6-pin
GeForce GTX 260  (216 SPs)	GT200	183	36	160	2 × 6-pin
	GT200b		k. A.	159
GeForce GTX 275	GT200b	219	34	215	2 × 6-pin
GeForce GTX 280	GT200	236	34-42	226	1 × 6-pin 1 × 8-pin
GeForce GTX 285	GT200b	204	27-29	208-214	2 × 6-pin
GeForce GTX 295	2 × GT200b	289	61-62	313-317	1 × 6-pin 1 × 8-pin

Much more common than measuring the consumption of the graphics card is determining the power consumption of an entire system. For this purpose, a reference system is compiled in which the various graphics cards are installed; Then the measurement takes place directly at the socket with the help of an energy cost meter or a comparable device . However, the meaningfulness of the measured values ​​is limited: It is not clear what consumption comes from the graphics card and what can be ascribed to the rest of the PC system. With this measurement method, the difference in consumption between idle and 3D load operation does not only depend on the program with which the load was generated; the utilization and efficiency of the rest of the PC system including the power supply unit, mainboard and processor also influence the measured difference. Since the tested systems usually differ from your own PC system at home, the values ​​given there cannot be mapped to your own system. Only measurement data from otherwise identical systems are (to a limited extent) suitable for comparison with one another. Because of this dependency, total system measured values ​​are not listed in the table here. However, since they can give a better picture of the practical power consumption of a specific system with a specific graphics card, pages are listed under the web links that carried out such measurements.

Web links

Commons : Nvidia GeForce 200 series  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Product overview on the manufacturer's website
• "NVidia GT200: technology in detail" (www.computerbase.de)
• "NVidia G92: Technology in detail" (www.computerbase.de)

Measurement of the power consumption of an entire system

• Measurements with GeForce GTX 295, GTX 285, GTX 280, GTX 275, GTX 260, GTS 250 and others at ComputerBase

See also

• List of Nvidia graphics processors

Individual evidence

1. ↑ PC Games Hardware: New edition of the GeForce GTX 260 listed in the PCGH price comparison , news from September 17, 2008, accessed on February 1, 2010
2. ↑ Computerbase: Nvidia officially announces the GeForce GTX 295 , message dated December 18, 2008, accessed on February 1, 2010
3. ↑ Computerbase: Manufacturers show GeForce GTX 295 with single PCB , message from June 5, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
4. ↑ PC Games Hardware: GeForce GTX 285 officially presented , news from January 8, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
5. ↑ Computerbase: Test: Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 - performance rating , test report from January 24, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
6. ↑ PC Games Hardware: GeForce GTX 285 - Test of the new Nvidia graphics card: power consumption, volume and cooling , test report from January 15, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
7. ↑ Computerbase: GeForce GTX 285 and GTX 295 without hybrid SLI , message from January 26, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
8. ↑ Computerbase: 55 nm GeForce GTX 260 in German retail , news from December 27, 2008, accessed on February 1, 2010
9. ↑ Computerbase: Test: Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 , test report from March 3, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
10. ↑ Computerbase: GeForce GTS 240 canceled at short notice? , Message dated March 13, 2009, accessed February 1, 2010
11. ↑ PC Games Hardware: Nvidia re-branding: First 8800 GT, then 9800 GT and now GeForce GTS 240 , message from July 25, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
12. ↑ Computerbase: HD 4890 available from 209 euros, GTX 275 later , message from April 2, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
13. ↑ Computerbase: Test: ATi Radeon HD 4890 vs. Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 - performance rating , test report from April 2, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
14. ↑ Computerbase: GeForce 200M series with DX 10.1 and 40 nm , news from June 15, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
15. ↑ Computerbase: First 40 nm desktop cards from Nvidia in the picture , message from July 8, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
16. ↑ ComputerBase: Nvidia GeForce GT 240 - performance rating , test report from November 17, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
17. ↑ Computerbase: First exact details on Nvidia's “GT212” chip , message from January 5, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
18. ↑ http://www.nvidia.de/object/win7-winvista-32bit-257.21-whql-driver-de.html OpenCL 1.0 from Tesla chip G80 with WHQL 257.21
19. ↑ http://www.gpu-tech.org/content.php/162-Nvidia-supports-OpenCL-1.1-with-GeForce-280.19-Beta-performance-suffers OpenCL 1.1 from Tesla chip G80 with Beta 280.19
20. ↑ "MB" usually stands for the unit of 2 ²⁰ = 1,048,576 bytes, also known as mebibytes , when specifying the memory size of graphics cards . In this article, “MB” is used with this meaning of 1,048,576 B when specifying memory sizes, unless otherwise specified. This does not apply to other information in the article, such as transmission rates, which are given in decimal meaning.
21. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce 205 , accessed February 1, 2010
22. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce 210 , accessed February 1, 2010
23. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce G210 , accessed February 1, 2010
24. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 , accessed February 1, 2010
25. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 , accessed February 1, 2010
26. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 , accessed February 1, 2010
27. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 , accessed February 1, 2010
28. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 , accessed February 1, 2010
29. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 , accessed February 1, 2010
30. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 , accessed February 1, 2010
31. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 , accessed February 1, 2010
32. ↑ Product page: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 , accessed February 1, 2010
33. ↑ The MGCP value specified by Nvidia does not necessarily correspond to the maximum power consumption. This value is also not necessarily comparable with the TDP value of the competitor AMD.
34. ↑ The measured values ​​listed in the table relate to the pure power consumption of graphics cards that correspond to the Nvidia reference design. A special measuring device is required to measure these values; Depending on the measurement technology used and the given measurement conditions, including the program used to generate the 3D load, the values ​​can fluctuate between different devices. Therefore, measured value ranges are given here, each representing the lowest, typical and highest measured values ​​from different sources.
35. ↑ The value given under 3D load corresponds to the typical game usage of the card. However, this is different depending on the 3D application. As a rule, a modern 3D application is used to determine the value, which, however, limits the comparability over longer periods of time.
36. ↑ ^{a b} PC Games Hardware: GeForce G210: Nvidia's first DirectX 10.1 card with GT218 chip in the test , test report from September 3, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
37. ↑ ^{a b c d} PC Games Hardware: GeForce GT 220 in the test: Nvidia's DirectX 10.1 graphics card , test report from October 12, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
38. ↑ ^{a b} HT4U.net: Real power consumption of current graphics cards - Appendix: GeForce GTX 260 (65 nm) , test report from January 29, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
39. ↑ ^{a b c d} PC Games Hardware: Graphics card power consumption - update with HD 4870 X2, GTX 295 and statement , test report from February 28, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
40. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} PC Games Hardware: Test: Ati Radeon HD 4890 versus Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 - power consumption, volume and cooling , test report from April 2, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
41. ↑ ^{a b} HT4U.net: Real power consumption of current graphics cards - Appendix: GeForce GTX 280 , test report from January 29, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
42. ↑ ^{a b} HT4U.net: Real power consumption of current graphics cards - Appendix: GeForce GTX 285 , test report from January 29, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010
43. ↑ ^{a b} HT4U.net: Real power consumption of current graphics cards - Appendix: GeForce GTX 295 , test report from January 29, 2009, accessed on February 1, 2010