GeForce G310 - NvidiaBloggo - All the latest Nvidia news! 2010

Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare

The tests with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare were done with the same resolution as Crysis, 1024×768, 4x anti-aliasin and all the options set in both normal and medium for the single player missions.

The framerate results are clearly better than the 8800M GTX. There’s also a clear improvement compared to the 9800GT. With a resolution of 1280×1024 and the same level of details, the 9800M GTX is clearly better than the 9800GT. The framerate is kept at a constant average of 40fps

World in Conflict

The real time strategic title World in Conflict has its own integrated benchmark, which made it easier to compare the performances between the 9800 GT and the 9800 GTX. The resolutions used were 1024×768 and 1280×1024 with the settings at medium, high and very high. The GeForce 9800M GTX has clearly been the best card in all resolutions and detail levels, with a 45fps average rate.

Performance

The GeForce 9800M GTX has 112 steam processors, 16 more in comparison with the 9800M GT. Another difference is the video memory. The 9800M GTX features 1GB GDDR3 RAM. In the 3D Mark Benchmark 2006, the XMG7 has obtained a result of 9952 points, 10% more than similar systems with a 8800 GTX. The tests with 3D Mark 2005 show even a better improvement, although in these tests, the CPU has a huge impact on the results.

Gaming Performance

In order to better review the graphic card, it’s necessary to test it with some of the most recent games.

Crysis

As usual, the first test was done with Crysis, which is known to be a very demanding game. The resolution chosen was of 1024 x 768 with high and very high details. With these settings and high details, the system has obtained a framerate of 30 to 50 fps, which is a decent result. If the game settings are put in very high, the frame rate is reduced to 20-30 fps, which doesn’t allow for a complete gaming experience, as it lacks fluidity.

Not too long ago, nVidia launched two new graphic cards for notebooks, dedicated to the gaming world. Besides the GeForce 9800M GT, that can be installed on the 15″ notebooks, nVidia also offers the GeForce 9800M GTX. Based on the G92 architecture, the 9800M GTX is manufactured with a 65nm technology, but the number of shaders is definitely higher than the previous model.

The review was done with a notebook that already has the new Intel Express PM45 Chipset. The processor is an Intel Core 2 Extreme X9100, the most powerful available in the market. With a 3.06GHz core with 6MB cache, this is definitely a higher performance processor when compared to the Penryn line.

Although the GTX 280 is the best performance card in the market, it doesn’t mean it’s a perfect problem. With the choice of keeping the 65nm production process, nVidia didn’t aim at a cost reduction for their GT200 chipset, that could have resulted in a better price to the end-customer in case an inferior process had been chosen. Also, nVidia has not supported the new DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1, which is rather unusual and hard to understand the reasons behind it.

The Gainward GeForce GTX 280 is capable of performing at top level when playing any of the games currently in the market, with all filters and maximum resolutions. More demanding games such as “Crysis” perform rather well also with the DX10 but without active filters.

This card is recommended to any user that wants the best from each and every game, regardless of the price.

Pro:

- Top performances, even with high resolution and active filters
- Great overclocking performances
- High quality materials
- Great technologies such as Hybrid SLI, Pure Video HD, CUDA, nVidia PhysX and Triple SLI

Cons:

- High retail price
- High energy consumption
- High idle temperatures
- Lack of support to the new Microsoft DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1

The price is a good point on this card, as well, currently being sold at an average of €375, which, despite the higher price, it’s rather appropriate for the card, considering its performance and the production costs. The material quality on the Gainward GeForce GTX280 is excellent and unmatched, all the components are built with high-quality materials, and it also features a 3-year warranty from the manufacturer.

The additional features on the GTX280 only increase the card’s value. The integration of the Hybrid SLI technology allows the pairing with an Nvidia motherboard, and it results in a noticeable reduction in energy consumption whenever the graphic card isn’t necessarily needed. The Pure Video HD technology provides a smooth high-definition streaming without requiring too much effort from the whole system. Also, the possibility of the Triple SLI technology allows users to create gaming platforms that are increasingly more powerful and complete, also thanks to the PhysX technology that will give yet another boost to games as soon as the gaming market adapts itself to it. Also interesting the new CUDA technology, that promises to lower the load on the CPU by using the GPU in a more intense way.

(Continues on part 3)

The GainWard GeForce GTX 280 is aimed at the “enthusiastic” users, those that want the maximum performance without having to compromise. The graphic card is extremely fast, and ideal for high-resolution games without occurring in frame rate issues, at all resolutions, and basically any settings, and any of the most recent videogames. With the launch of the GTX 280, nVidia can still claim the position of most powerful and faster graphic card in the market with a single GPU system, superior to the AMD rival by 12%.

The GT200 technology has allowed nVidia to manage the frame rate efficiently and linearly. The 177.41 WHQL forceware has presented stable and reliable drivers, that truly take advantage of the card’s full potential.

The GeForce GTX280 is, however, a high-energy consumption card. The values obtained when in full working mode register a full system consumption of 490W, which forces the user to search for an appropriate power supply, in case one is not already available. The cooling system is, however, rather efficient, but noisy if not properly set through monitoring applications.

(Continues in part 2)

The cooling system has never really presented much noise during the tests. The metal cover, combined with the low rotation system present on the fan, has allowed for a good acoustic comfort. The temperatures in idle are, however, definitely high, at 70°C. In full load, it reaches easily the 90°C mark. Such a high temperature can, thus, cause heating problems in the whole system if it’s not sufficiently aired, and it could cause annoying system blocks.

The card is developed to work up to a 105°C temperature, but the system is rather conservative and will never really reach the higher speeds, unless the truly passionate users decide to tune it with the nTune software provided by nVidia, or other similar softwares. The fan, if set up manually to work at full speed, can be quite noisy, actually going beyond the 65db. A good compromise of performance / noise can be obtained setting the fan’s rotational speed at 50%.

As for the energy consumption, the GeForce GTX280 is rather well behaved, although the implementation of a manufacturing technology under the 65nm would have helped. But, in any case, the average consumption is of 490W, for both CPU and GPU, when in heavy load.

The Overclocking is always an important feature to analyze, especially for those that like enhancing their graphic cards to the maximum. In this sense, the Gainward GeForce GTX 280 doesn’t disappoint.

The testing has proved that the card is able to maintain frequences of 715Mhz for the core and 2200Mhz for the ram, with no problems and full stability, and without generating any artifacts, even after several hours of high-stress use and no further cooling than the fan present by default. This result is possible thanks to the attention given by nVidia to the cooling system, optimizing the air flow inside the card. The card was actually able to run at 740Mhz and 241Mhz respectively for core and RAM, but the stability dropped noticeably.

Unfortunaly, the high-overclockability of the card are contrasted by the difficulty in removing the cooling system that completely covers the GPU. However, it’s not difficult to find other methods to use better cooling systems, in order to enhance the card’s performance without losing the warranty on it.

After nVidia acquired Ageia, the company decided to integrate, through the CUDA technology, all the PPU (Physical Processor Unit) functionalities inside the GTX 200. nVidia has also announced officially that the current games that use the Ageia SDK will be able to benefit from the physical acceleration. The PhysX technology offers an enhancement in the virtual physic processing performance, and a bigger realism in games.

Currently, there are few games that take advantage of the PhysX technologyh from nVidia. But it’s likely to assume that in a near future, many game developers will decide to implement these new features on their games as well.

The Triple SLI technology allows three video cards to work in parallel in order to raise the performances in the gaming section and also allows for high quality settings. The support for the Triple SLI technology requires the presence of two SLI connectors in each graphic card PCB. Nvidia has made available all the drivers to the Triple SLI activation on their graphic cards.

The Triple SLI configuration requires a particular connector, that is offered in bundle with all the nVidia graphic cards that are able to manage the Triple SLi technology. It’s worth to be reminded that the Triple SLI technology is only supported by nVidia motherboards, since the company owns the technology, as it happened with the classic SLI techology.

The Triple SLI is currently exclusive to the systems featuring Windows Vista, in fact, only the latest Operational System from Microsoft has the framework necessary for the 3-frame rendering, which is required for using the three GPU’s efficiently. The new nVidia drivers will allow a maximum performance for all graphic components (Geometry, texture, shader processing).

Of course, in order to use a Triple SLI system with three GeForce GTX280 cards, the system needs a rather good energy supply. For such a system, it’s recommended at least 1000w.