Currently NVIDIA is releasing new versions of their lower end graphics card series. All new cards are based on NVIDIA's first 40 nm graphics processors. The GeForce GT 220 uses the GT216 GPU, while the G 210 uses the GT218 processor. Both cards are positioned in the lower end of the performance spectrum, with performance in the 9500 GT range. This is also the first time that NVIDIA offers a DirectX 10.1 compliant GPU. NVIDIA's Reviewers Guide states "The GeForce GT 220 is the perfect GPU for Microsoft Windows 7". I respectfully disagree, a Windows 7 graphics card should have support for DirectX 11 in my opinion, no matter if DirectX 11 is popular yet. NVIDIA has also worked on the media PC features and now lets you transmit the HDMI audio signal through the PCI-Express bus without the need for any SPDIF cable. Full HD video decode acceleration, NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX are also present on this card making this an all-round entry level solution if you are looking for a basic graphics card that works well for desktop use, and allows for casual gaming.
Like many other board-partners, Inno3D has engineered their own GeForce GT 220 design, by using NVIDIA's PCB together with their own thermal solution.
We are testing the 1 GB variant of Inno3D's GeForce GT 220, if you want to save some money, a 512 MB version is available too.
Radeon HD 4350
GeForce 9400 GT
Radeon HD 4550
GeForce 9500 GT
GeForce GT 220
Inno3D GT 220
Radeon HD 4670
GeForce 9600 GT
Shader units
80
16
80
32
48
48
320
64
ROPs
4
8
4
8
8
8
8
16
GPU
RV710
G96
RV710
G96
GT216
GT216
RV730
G94
Transistors
242M
314M
242M
314M
486M
486M
512M
505M
Memory Size
256 MB
512M
512 MB
256 MB / 512 MB
512 MB / 1024 MB
1024 MB
512 MB
512 MB
Memory Bus Width
64 bit
128 bit
64 bit
128 bit
128 bit
128 bit
128 bit
256 bit
Core Clock
600 MHz
550 MHz
600 MHz
550 MHz
625 MHz
625 MHz
750 MHz
650 MHz
Memory Clock
500 MHz
400 MHz
400 MHz
900 MHz
790 MHz / 1012 MHz
800 MHz
1000 MHz
900 MHz
Price
$35
$40
$45
$45
$69 - $79
$74
$67
$80
Packaging
The package is fairly compact, yet not too small. All the important product specifications can be found easily. While I find the white sticker a bit out of place it serves it purpose well to properly identify the product.
Contents
You will receive:
Graphics card
Driver CD + Manual
The Card
Inno3D relies on the original NVIDIA PCB design for their GT 220. As you can see all the DDR3 memory chips are on one side, while the back has no major components.
The card is exactly one slot tall which means it should work well in smaller form factor systems with limited space.
The card has one analog VGA port, one DVI port and and one HDMI port. For a low-end graphics card, this is a very reasonable output configuration since many low-end PC users still use CRTs. For media PC users the HDMI output enables an easy way to hook up their graphics card to the big screen without any adapter cables or converters.
As mentioned before, NVIDIA has slightly changed how their HDMI Audio works. Instead of connecting an SPDIF output from your sound card to the graphics card, the driver will route the audio signal from the sound device over the PCI-Express bus into the graphics card. According to NVIDIA "fully uncompressed 7.1 LPCM" is supported, as far as I know the sound card will take care of decoding the audio from other formats into LPCM. Please note that you will still need an onboard sound device or sound card. Unlike ATI graphics cards there is no complete sound device embedded inside the GPU.
While there are no SLI connectors, it is possible to put two of these cards in SLI mode for better performance and data will be transferred via the PCI-Express bus.
Here are the front and the back of the card, high-res versions are also available (front, back). If you choose to use these images for voltmods etc, please include a link back to this site or let us post your article.