FIRST LOOK: NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Performance

Just two days ago, NVIDIA launched the GeForce 6100 Family of Integrated Graphics solutions with the promise that shipping boards would be available in early October. We can now say that early October is a very reasonable estimate, since we just received the Biostar TForce 6100-939, based on the 6100 chipset.

We've been burning the midnight oil to bring you a First Look at the real performance of the new NVIDIA integrated chipset, as we do a head-to-head comparison with the best integrated graphics solution on the current market - the ATI RS480.

There are several combinations of 6100 North bridges with nForce South bridges. The retail Tforce 6100-939 is the GeForce 6100/nForce 410.

Specifications:	NVIDIA GeForce 6150 NVIDIA nForce 430	NVIDIA GeForce 6100 NVIDIA nForce 430	NVIDIA GeForce 6100 NVIDIA nForce 410
CPU	Athlon 64 or Sempron	Athlon 64 or Sempron	Athlon 64 or Sempron
PureVideo (High Definition)	Yes	Yes	Yes
DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 Support	Yes	Yes	Yes
TV Encoder	Yes	No	No
TMDS/DVI	Yes	No	No
Graphics Clock	475 MHz	425 MHz	425 MHz
PCI-Express	1x16 2x1	1x16 1x1	1x16 1x1
MPEG-2/WMV9 Playback	HD(1080p/1080i)	SD	SD
Video Scaling	High Quality(5x4)	Basic (2x2)	Basic (2x2)
SATA/PATA drives	4/4	4/4	2/4
SATA speed	3Gb/s	3Gb/s	3Gb/s
RAID	0,1,0+1,5	0,1,0+1,5	0,1
NVIDIA MediaShield	Yes	Yes	Yes
NVIDIA ActiveArmorTM Firewall	Yes	Yes	-
Ethernet	10/100/1000	10/100/1000	10/100
USB ports	8	8	8
NVIDIA nTuneTM Utility	Yes	Yes	Yes

This Biostar TForce 6100 combination is one of the more mainstream solutions, and it does not feature the High-Definition Azalia audio. In the graphics arena, the difference between the top 6150 and the 6100 appears to be just clock speed and features. The 6150 is clocked at 475MHZ, while the 6100 is clocked at 425MHz. This means that the 6100 will perform a bit slower than the 6150, with the performance difference being solely the difference in the 425 to 475 clock speed. The 6150 also uniquely features WMV9 High Definition playback with the TV encoder, but this will not affect graphics performance benchmarking.

While it would have been even nicer to be testing the top-of-the-line 6150/430, we should be able to glean some very nice comparisons to the ATI RS480 chipset. Our sincere thanks to Biostar for getting a 6100 board in our hands so quickly!