NVIDIA's GeForce 6200 & 6600 non-GT: Affordable Gaming
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 11, 2004 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Sims 2 Performance
A new addition to our test suite, made especially for this article, is the latest installation of the Sims series. Sims 2 isn't the type of game that requires a $600 GeForce 6800 Ultra, but it is the type of game that does require some minimum level of graphics performance and is sometimes found installed on computers on which you would otherwise not find a single game. So, what are the minimum graphics requirements for a playable Sims experience? To find out, we benchmarked the camera flyby that occurs when you select the Pleasantview neighborhood. We used FRAPS to measure the average frame rate throughout the sequence.At 800x600, there's once again one clear winner here, the Radeon X700 by a huge margin (42%) over even the GeForce 6600. The GeForce 6600 is the distant 2nd place performer, and there's a huge clump of cards that perform similarly to the Radeon X600, with the 64-bit X300SE coming in last. Interestingly enough, even the slowest X300SE manages to play the game reasonably well at 800x600 with the highest detail settings possible.
For more, let's look at the resolution scaling graph:
Notes from the Lab
ATI X300: The X300 offers performance very similar to that of the X600 Pro and the GeForce 6200. The game is not totally smooth, but is definitely playable at 800x600. There is a significant amount of aliasing at 800x600, but without a faster card, there's little you can do about it.ATI X300SE: There is a noticeable performance difference between the X300 and X300SE, yet even the X300SE can play the game reasonably well at 800x600. If you turn down the detail settings, the performance improves dramatically.
ATI X600 Pro: Although the X600 Pro performs similarly to the GeForce 6200 and 6600, the frame rate is much more stable than either of those two. There's far less stuttering when scrolling around the game world.
ATI X700: The X700 continues to be much, much faster than the rest of the contenders here.
NVIDIA GeForce 6200/6600: Both the 6200 and 6600 exhibit stuttering issues under Sims 2, although the game is definitely playable using either.
Intel Integrated Graphics: Here's where performance truly matters for Intel graphics - in a game like The Sims 2. This is the type of game that will be played by people who don't come within 100 yards of Doom 3 and who, honestly, shouldn't need to spend even $100 on a video card to play a game like this. How does the 915G fair? It actually plays the Sims pretty well. There is some loss in image quality it seems (just detail), but it's actually not bad at all. If you're building a computer for someone who only plays the Sims, Intel's integrated graphics is actually all you need. 800x600 looks pretty bad, but luckily, the game is playable at 10x7. You may have to turn down the detail settings as there is a bit of stuttering at the highest settings.
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Sunbird - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
bpt8056 - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
Anand, thanks so much for updating us on the PVP feature in the NV40. I think it's high-time somebody held nVidia accountable for a "broken" feature. Do you know if the PVP is working in the PCI-Express version (NV45)? Any information you can get would be great. Thanks Anand!mczak - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
That's an odd conclusion... "In most cases, the GeForce 6200 does significantly outperform the X300 and X600 Pro, its target competitors from ATI."But looking at the results, the X600Pro is _faster_ in 5 of 8 benchmarks (sometimes significantly), 2 are a draw, and only slower in 1 (DoomIII, by a significant margin). Not to disregard DoomIII, but if you base your conclusion entirely on that game alone why do you even bother with the other titles?
I just can't see why that alone justifies "...overall, the 6200 takes the crown".
There are some other odd comments as well, for instance at the Star Wars Battlefront performance: "The X300SE is basically too slow to play this game. There's nothing more to it. The X300 doesn't make it much better either." Compared to the 6200 which gets "An OK performer;..." but is actually (very slightly) slower than the X300?
gordon151 - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
"In most cases, the GeForce 6200 does significantly outperform the X300 and X600 Pro, its target competitors from ATI."Eh, am I missing something or wasnt it the X600 Pro the card that significantly outperformed the 6200 in almost all areas with the exception of Doom3.
dragonic - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
#6 Why would they drop it because the multiplayer framerate is locked? They benchmark using the single player, not the multiplayerDAPUNISHER - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
Thanks Anand! I've been on about the PVP problems with nV40 for months now, and have become increasing fustrated with the lack of information and/or progress by nV. Now that a major site is pursuing this with vigor I can at least take comfort in the knowledge that answers will be forthcoming one way or another!Again, thanks for making this issue a priority and emphatically stating you will get more information for us. It's nV vs Anand so "Rumble young man! Rumble!" :-)
AlphaFox - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
if you ask me, all these low end cards are stupid if you have a PCIe motherboard.. who the heck would get one of these crappy cards if they spent all the money for a brand new PCIe computer??? these cards would be perfect for AGP as they are now going to start to be lower end..ROcHE - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
How would a 9800 Pro do against these card?ViRGE - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
Unless LucasArts changes something Anand, you may want to drop the Battlefront test. With multiplayer, the framerate is locked to the tick rate(usually 20FPS), so its performance is nearly irrelivant.PS #1, he's talking about the full load graph, not the idle graph
teng029 - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
"For example, the GeForce 6600 is supposed to have a street price of $149, but currently, it's selling for closer to $170. So, as the pricing changes, so does our recommendation."i have yet to see the 6600 anywhere. pricewatch only lists two aopen cards (both well over 200.00) it and newegg doesn't carry it. i'm curious as to where he got the 170.00 street price.