NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 220: 40nm and DX10.1 for the Low-End
by Ryan Smith on October 12, 2009 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Temperature & Noise
At idle, the GT 220 is one cool card. We’re a bit surprised that it couldn’t beat the 5850 here given the tiny 7W idle power usage, but the 5850 has the advantage of getting to vent hot air out the rear of the card.
Meanwhile we see one of the few chinks in the armor of the Radeon HD 4670. It idles a good 9C higher.
Small cards make little heat. Even with the small cooler on the GT 220, it doesn’t pass 79C. This becomes all the more impressive when we look at the noise data. Meanwhile the 4670 hits 90C. It may be the faster card, but it pays for it here.
Here we run up against the practical noise floor of our testing rig. Nothing with a fan can get below 46dB.
With a fixed speed fan, the GT 220 makes the same amount of noise at idle and at load. This means it’s still running into our noise floor under load even though it’s an actively cooled card. It has all the makings of a good HTPC card, if only the price-to-performance ratio was a bit better.
As for the 4670, it comes in at #2 with 50.1dB under load, making it noisier than the GT 220 but quieter than any of our usual suspects on the high-end.
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uibo - Saturday, October 17, 2009 - link
"This could have been a killer HTPC card...one year ago. "... for me to poop on.
VooDooAddict - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
I'd love to see this around $40 and make it's way into inexpensive OEM desktops. The GT 220 would be perfect for low end desktops if the price gets low enough. This would enable cheap eMachines to play MMOs and keep PC gaming alive.But as it stands right now 4650 and 4670 are the two cards I currently use to build low end desktops for others.
Lonyo - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
A joke launch for what I can only hope is supposed to be a joke product.Mind you, at least NV have launched _something_ at 40nm for the general market rather than OEMs only.
yoyojam - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
Glad to see AMD pretty much destroying Nvidia on the graphics front (for now). They're processor division is doing so badly, and we need our CPU competition...MegaSteve - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
I doubt that AMD is destroying or will even destroy Nvidia in any respect. What they are doing is providing them with credible competition and that is what we all benefit from. Although I will say this whole renaming cards and providing meagre performance increases is wearing a little thin.I enjoy the fact that I can choose between similar performance levels in cards from either camp for less money than when the 8800 series came out (I am referring to the GTX/Ultra parts). Now I know I can see your skin turning a solid shade of AMD Red but remember we have no answer from Nvidia yet, so the only thing that has occurred here is that ATI has beaten them to the market - perhaps Nvidia would rather be late and avoid another 5800 Vacuum Cleaner launch, I am sure that cost them dearly.
AMD/Nvidia really have to ensure that they spend time ensuring their products are going to rival the Larrabee/DX 11 threat that very well has the possibility to clean them both up. I would rather have to install a graphics card and a processor of my choice than to have a single intel provider of all in my PC. As you can see nvidia is trying to push multiple uses for their GPU which seems pretty smart to me.
Souleet - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
They are not destroying NVIDIA. I think we have to wait and see NVIDIA big guns(GT300 series) before we can truly judge who is beating up on who. I consider this a defensive move until Windows 7 release and to see how the market react over the ATI 5800 series. Remember what happen to the ATI 9700/9800 series, we all know what happen after that. :)teldar - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
ToolSo because nVidia is going to bring out something in 2-4 months, AMD isn't doing better?
And how is an overpriced budget card a response to brand new, high end cards?
They already know how the market has responded to the 5800 cards. As many as they can make are being sold.
Souleet - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
They only responded because that's like the newest ATI technology since long ass time. When you are down the only way is up or bankrupt. SLI was a knockout blow to ATI and just now they barely catching up.RubberJohnny - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
Ahh Souleet, you are a candidate for the most uninformed reader on Anandtech.SLI a knockout blow HAHAHA, thats the funniest thing i've read today!
Souleet - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - link
Really? Then prove to me that SLI wasn't a knockout blow? After SLI came out, who brought ATI? I love ATI but those are the facts. Show me some proof that AMD stock is up since the merger.