FIRST LOOK: NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Performance
by Wesley Fink on September 22, 2005 1:29 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
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.
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!
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!
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reload1992 - Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - link
I am building a pc for the first time Is this a good motherboard for gaming?Calin - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
I would like to change my mainboard/processor (as they are still in the 600MHz range), and I really would like one of those things. However, not wanting to pay the whole extra $100 for a socket 939 processor, I would like to know the performance of the Socket 754 board (coupled with an Sempron processor).In case your plans does not accout for making tests with the dual channel memory board, could you please test it with a single DIMM (in order to simulate a 754 board on the hardware you have)?
Thank you very much
Calin
varundubey - Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - link
Hi, in your article here:http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2539">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2539
you say that NVIDIA 6100/430 and NVIDIA 6100/410 support pure video but Nvidia disagrees here:
http://www.nvidia.com/page/gpu_mobo.html">http://www.nvidia.com/page/gpu_mobo.html
should be a tad more careful no?
glennpratt - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link
NVIDIA has corrected the link.Wesley Fink - Thursday, September 29, 2005 - link
The chart showing Pure Video support for the 6100/410 is cut and pasted from nVidia launch literature for the 6100. If it's wrong or in conflict with other nVidia publications please talk with nVidia for clarification.Phiro - Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - link
Varun, they've abandoned us to fend for ourselves.LoneWolf15 - Monday, September 26, 2005 - link
My best use for this would be an nForce 430/GF6150 mATX board for a HTPC setup. I'll be eagerly waiting to see how this does. It'd be great to use an entry-level Sempron or A64 as part of a small, quiet rig for this sort of application, and the onboard HD audio, gig Ethernet (for transferring files from a media server across the intranet), and HD over TV-out are all big plusses.I'll be waiting to see this tested when it becomes available, as I'm once-bitten-twice-shy on the nVidia PureVideo thing, but if it can meet or beat the on-paper specs, it looks to be a winner.
Phiro - Friday, September 23, 2005 - link
Question - was the HL2 benchmark run under the DX8 or DX9 codepath?I ask because the numbers to me seemed to compare the 6100 to the Geforce 5700. You show the 6100 getting 55fps at 800x600 in HL2 with normal/low settings. The 5900XT gets 104fps with highest settings w/o AA in a similar setup, until I read closely and saw that was with the DX8 codepath. Forcing the 5900XT to use the DX9 codepath knocks it down to ~30fps if I recall.
If that's true, and the 6100 was run under the DX9 codepath and it got 55fps with lowered settings, that still puts this video card a big chunk above a 5700 IMO.
Phiro - Monday, September 26, 2005 - link
Wesley, you can't quit reading the feedback from an article you write less than 24 hours after you post said article.Come on, fess up w/the information!
Wesley Fink - Thursday, September 29, 2005 - link
I'm not the graphics guru, but I thought the DX9/DX8 codepaths were an early HL2 concern long since resolved. At any rate we run HL2 thorugh Steam and update before benching. The system is XP SP2 9.0c. The bench utility is the Guru3D HL2 benchmarking tool running Guru3D Demo5. The HL2 update from the last few days has corrupted all of of HL2 benchmarks - including the Guru3D tool - but that's another story.