GeForce
Encyclopedia
GeForce is a brand
of graphics processing unit
s (GPUs) designed by Nvidia
. , there have been eleven iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for use on add-on graphics boards, intended for the high-margin PC gaming market. Later diversification of the product-line covered all tiers of the PC graphics market, from cost-sensitive, motherboard-integrated GPUs to mainstream, add-in, retail boards. Most recently, GeForce technology has been introduced into Nvidia's line of embedded application processors, designed for electronic handhelds and mobile handsets.
With respect to discrete GPUs, found in add-in graphics-boards, Nvidia's GeForce and AMD's Radeon
GPUs are the only remaining competitors in the high-end market.
Along with its nearest competitor, the AMD (ATI
) Radeon, the GeForce architecture is moving toward GPGPU
(General Purpose-Graphics Processor Unit). GPGPU is expected to expand GPU functionality beyond the traditional rasterization of 3D graphics, to turn it into a high-performance computing device able to execute arbitrary programming code in the same way a CPU does.
line of graphics boards. There were over 12,000 entries received and 7 winners received a RIVA TNT2 Ultra graphics card as a reward.
: Launched on August 31, 1999, the GeForce 256 (NV10) was the first PC graphics chip with hardware transform, lighting, and shading although 3D games utilizing this feature
did not appear until later. Initial GeForce 256 boards shipped with SDR SDRAM
memory, and later boards shipped with faster DDR SDRAM
memory.
GeForce 2 Series : Launched in April 2000, the first GeForce2 (NV15) was another high-performance graphics chip. Nvidia moved to a twin texture processor per pipeline (4x2) design, doubling texture fillrate per clock compared to GeForce 256. Later, Nvidia released the GeForce2 MX (NV11), which offered performance similar to the GeForce 256 but at a fraction of the cost. The MX was a compelling value in the low/mid-range market segments and was popular with OEM PC manufacturers and users alike. The GeForce 2 Ultra was the high-end model in this series.
GeForce 3 Series : Launched in February 2001, the GeForce3 (NV20) introduced programmable pixel shaders to the GeForce family. It had good overall performance and shader support, making it popular with enthusiasts although it never hit the midrange price point. A derivative of the GeForce3, NV2A, was developed for the Microsoft
Xbox
game console.
GeForce 4 Series : Launched in February 2002, the high-end GeForce4 Ti (NV25) was mostly a refinement to the GeForce3. The biggest advancements included enhancements to anti-aliasing capabilities, an improved memory controller, a second vertex shader, and a manufacturing process size reduction to increase clock speeds. Another "family member," the budget GeForce4 MX, was based on the GeForce2, with a few additions from the new GeForce4 Ti line. It targeted the value segment of the market and lacked pixel shaders. Most of these models used the AGP4x interface, but a few began the transition to AGP8x.
GeForce FX Series : Launched in 2003, the GeForce FX (NV30) was a huge change in architecture compared to its predecessors. The GPU was designed not only to support the new Shader Model 2 specification but also to perform well on older titles. However, initial models suffered from weak floating point shader performance and excessive heat which required two-slot cooling solutions. Products in this series carry the 5000 model number, as it is the fifth generation of the GeForce, though Nvidia marketed the cards as GeForce FX instead of GeForce 5 to show off "the dawn of cinematic rendering".
GeForce 6 Series
: Launched in April 2004, the GeForce 6 (NV40) added Shader Model 3.0 support to the GeForce family, while correcting the weak floating point shader performance of its predecessor. It also implemented high dynamic range imaging
and introduced SLI
(Scalable Link Interface) and PureVideo
capability (integrated DVD Video decoder, eliminates the need for software video decoders).
GeForce 7 Series
: The 7th generation GeForce (G70/NV47) was launched in June 2005 and was the last video card designed for AGP bus. The design was a refined version of GeForce 6, with the major improvements being a widened pipeline and an increase in clock speed. The GeForce 7 also offers new transparency supersampling
and transparency multisampling anti-aliasing modes (TSAA and TMAA). These new anti-aliasing modes were later enabled for the GeForce 6 series as well. The GeForce 7950GT featured the highest performance GPU with an AGP interface in the nVidia line. This era began the transition to the PCI-Express interface.
GeForce 8 Series
: Released on November 8, 2006, the 8th generation GeForce (G80 originally) was the first ever GPU to fully support Direct3D
10. Built on a brand new architecture, manufactured in 80 nm, it has a fully unified shader architecture. Originally just the 8800GTX, the GTS was released months into the product line's life, and it took nearly 6 months for mid-range and OEM/mainstream cards to be integrated into the 8-series. The Die-shrink down to 65 nm and a revision to the G80 design, codenamed G92, were implemented into the 8 series with the 8800GS, the 8800GT, and 8800GTS-512. First released on October 29, 2007, almost one whole year after the initial G80 release.
GeForce 9 Series
/ GeForce 100 Series
: The first product was released on February 21, 2008. Not even four months older than the initial G92 release, all 9-series designs, both currently-out and speculated, are simply revisions to existing late 8-series products. The 9800GX2 uses two G92 GPUs, as used in later 8800 cards, in a dual PCB configuration while still only requiring a single PCI-Express 16x slot. The 9800GX2 utilizes two separate 256-bit memory busses, one for each GPU and its respective 512MB of memory, which equates to an overall of 1GB of memory on the card (although the SLI configuration of the chips necessitates mirroring the frame buffer between the two chips, thus effectively halving the memory performance of a 256-bit/512MB configuration). The later 9800GTX features a single G92 GPU, 256-bit data bus, and 512MB of GDDR3 memory. Prior to the release, no concrete information was known except officials claiming the next generation products having close to 1 TFLOPS performance while the GPU cores still being manufactured in the 65 nm process, and reports about Nvidia downplaying the significance of Direct3D
10.1. On March 2009, several sources reported that nVidia had quietly launched a new series of its flagship GeForce products, designated GeForce 100 Series, which consists of rebadged 9 Series parts. The only official source of information on GeForce 100 Series at this time is "nVidia GeForce Family" web page and corresponding product pages. According to this web page, GeForce 100 products are not available for individual purchase.
GeForce 200 Series
/ GeForce 300 Series
: Based on the GT200 graphics processor consisting of 1.4 billion transistors, the 200 series was launched on 16 June 2008. The next generation of the GeForce series takes the card-naming scheme in a new direction, by replacing the series number (such as 8800 for 8-series cards) with the GTX or GTS suffix (which used to go at the end of card names, denoting their 'rank' among other similar models), and then adding model-numbers such as 260 and 280 after that. The series features the new GT200 core on a 65nm
die. The first products were the GeForce GTX 260 and the more expensive GeForce GTX 280. The GeForce 310 was released on November 27, 2009, which is a rebrand of GeForce 210. According to Nvidia, the naming for the 300 series will be allocated for DirectX 10.1 compatible GPU rebrand in the future.
GeForce 400 Series
/ GeForce 500 Series
: Nvidia announced and released the GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480, the first cards based on the new Fermi architecture codenamed GF100, and the first to utilize 1GB or more of newer GDDR5
memory. They were released on April 7, 2010. Later that year, Nvidia introduced the GeForce GTX 465 as a cutdown, cheaper version of the GF100 chip to target at mainstream users. The GTX 465 was quickly replaced by the GTX 460, based on the GF104 architecture, which featured lower power consumption and better performance. Soon after, Nvidia released mainstream versions of Fermi architecture, also known as GF106 and GF108, for consumers as well as OEMs. NVIDIA also released a flagship GPU based on a revised GF100 architecture (GF110), called the GTX 580, that featured higher performance/power efficiency than the GTX 480. Nvidia also recently released two updates to the GTX470 and GTX460, the GTX570 and GTX560 Ti, both of which also feature better performance than their predecessor. They have now phased out the GTX480 and GTX470, while keeping the GTX460 in production as a lower budget high end card. Then came the GTX590, a combination of 2 GTX 580's on one single card. The GTX 590 is Nvidia's most powerful graphics card to date.
4, nVidia has included onboard graphics solutions in their motherboard chipsets. These onboard graphics solutions are called mGPUs (motherboard GPUs). As technology progressed, Nvidia developed a break-through mobile GPU called the NVidia ION graphics processor. The ION GPU can deliver 1080p
video without lag or video tearing. ION video evidence
In 1st Quarter 2009 the GeForce 200M series were released. However these cards are actually based on the G92 core also found in 8 and 9 series GPUs, as opposed to a true GT200 core, mainly for power consumption reasons.
The company followed a naming scheme similar to that shown below for the GeForce FX series until the GeForce 9 series.
Since the release of the GeForce 100 series of GPUs, NVIDIA changed their product naming scheme to the following:
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
of graphics processing unit
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
s (GPUs) designed by Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
. , there have been eleven iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for use on add-on graphics boards, intended for the high-margin PC gaming market. Later diversification of the product-line covered all tiers of the PC graphics market, from cost-sensitive, motherboard-integrated GPUs to mainstream, add-in, retail boards. Most recently, GeForce technology has been introduced into Nvidia's line of embedded application processors, designed for electronic handhelds and mobile handsets.
With respect to discrete GPUs, found in add-in graphics-boards, Nvidia's GeForce and AMD's Radeon
Radeon
Radeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by...
GPUs are the only remaining competitors in the high-end market.
Along with its nearest competitor, the AMD (ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
) Radeon, the GeForce architecture is moving toward GPGPU
GPGPU
General-purpose computing on graphics processing units is the technique of using a GPU, which typically handles computation only for computer graphics, to perform computation in applications traditionally handled by the CPU...
(General Purpose-Graphics Processor Unit). GPGPU is expected to expand GPU functionality beyond the traditional rasterization of 3D graphics, to turn it into a high-performance computing device able to execute arbitrary programming code in the same way a CPU does.
Name origin
The "GeForce" name originated from a contest held by Nvidia in early 1999. Called "Name That Chip", the company called out to the public to name the successor to the RIVA TNT2RIVA TNT2
The RIVA TNT2 was a graphics processing unit manufactured by Nvidia starting in early 1999. The chip is codenamed "NV5" because it is the 5th graphics chip design by Nvidia, succeeding the RIVA TNT . RIVA is an acronym for Real-time Interactive Video and Animation accelerator...
line of graphics boards. There were over 12,000 entries received and 7 winners received a RIVA TNT2 Ultra graphics card as a reward.
Generations
GeForce 256GeForce 256
The GeForce 256 is the original release in Nvidia's "GeForce" product-line. Released on August 31, 1999, the GeForce 256 improves on its predecessor by increasing the number of fixed pixel pipelines, offloading host geometry calculations to a hardware transform and lighting engine, and adding...
: Launched on August 31, 1999, the GeForce 256 (NV10) was the first PC graphics chip with hardware transform, lighting, and shading although 3D games utilizing this feature
Rendering (computer graphics)
Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model , by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene...
did not appear until later. Initial GeForce 256 boards shipped with SDR SDRAM
SDRAM
Synchronous dynamic random access memory is dynamic random access memory that is synchronized with the system bus. Classic DRAM has an asynchronous interface, which means that it responds as quickly as possible to changes in control inputs...
memory, and later boards shipped with faster DDR SDRAM
DDR SDRAM
Double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory is a class of memory integrated circuits used in computers. DDR SDRAM has been superseded by DDR2 SDRAM and DDR3 SDRAM, neither of which are either forward or backward compatible with DDR SDRAM, meaning that DDR2 or DDR3 memory modules...
memory.
GeForce 2 Series : Launched in April 2000, the first GeForce2 (NV15) was another high-performance graphics chip. Nvidia moved to a twin texture processor per pipeline (4x2) design, doubling texture fillrate per clock compared to GeForce 256. Later, Nvidia released the GeForce2 MX (NV11), which offered performance similar to the GeForce 256 but at a fraction of the cost. The MX was a compelling value in the low/mid-range market segments and was popular with OEM PC manufacturers and users alike. The GeForce 2 Ultra was the high-end model in this series.
GeForce 3 Series : Launched in February 2001, the GeForce3 (NV20) introduced programmable pixel shaders to the GeForce family. It had good overall performance and shader support, making it popular with enthusiasts although it never hit the midrange price point. A derivative of the GeForce3, NV2A, was developed for the Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
game console.
GeForce 4 Series : Launched in February 2002, the high-end GeForce4 Ti (NV25) was mostly a refinement to the GeForce3. The biggest advancements included enhancements to anti-aliasing capabilities, an improved memory controller, a second vertex shader, and a manufacturing process size reduction to increase clock speeds. Another "family member," the budget GeForce4 MX, was based on the GeForce2, with a few additions from the new GeForce4 Ti line. It targeted the value segment of the market and lacked pixel shaders. Most of these models used the AGP4x interface, but a few began the transition to AGP8x.
GeForce FX Series : Launched in 2003, the GeForce FX (NV30) was a huge change in architecture compared to its predecessors. The GPU was designed not only to support the new Shader Model 2 specification but also to perform well on older titles. However, initial models suffered from weak floating point shader performance and excessive heat which required two-slot cooling solutions. Products in this series carry the 5000 model number, as it is the fifth generation of the GeForce, though Nvidia marketed the cards as GeForce FX instead of GeForce 5 to show off "the dawn of cinematic rendering".
GeForce 6 Series
GeForce 6 Series
The GeForce 6 Series is Nvidia's sixth generation of GeForce graphic processing units. Launched on April 14, 2004, the GeForce 6 family introduced PureVideo post-processing for video, SLI technology, and Shader Model 3.0 support .-GeForce 6 Series features:-SLI:The Scalable Link...
: Launched in April 2004, the GeForce 6 (NV40) added Shader Model 3.0 support to the GeForce family, while correcting the weak floating point shader performance of its predecessor. It also implemented high dynamic range imaging
High dynamic range imaging
In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods...
and introduced SLI
Scalable Link Interface
Scalable Link Interface is a brand name for a multi-GPU solution developed by NVIDIA for linking two or more video cards together to produce a single output...
(Scalable Link Interface) and PureVideo
Nvidia PureVideo
Nvidia PureVideo is a hardware feature designed to offload video decoding processes and video post-processing from a computer's CPU hardware to Nvidia's GPU hardware series GeForce 6 and later, GeForce M series ; and Nvidia Quadro series...
capability (integrated DVD Video decoder, eliminates the need for software video decoders).
GeForce 7 Series
GeForce 7 Series
The GeForce 7 Series is the seventh generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units.-Features:The following features are common to all models in the GeForce 7 series except the GeForce 7100, which lacks GCAA:-GeForce 7100 Series:...
: The 7th generation GeForce (G70/NV47) was launched in June 2005 and was the last video card designed for AGP bus. The design was a refined version of GeForce 6, with the major improvements being a widened pipeline and an increase in clock speed. The GeForce 7 also offers new transparency supersampling
Supersampling
Supersampling is an antialiasing technique, the process of eliminating jagged and pixelated edges . It is a method of smoothing images rendered in computer games or other programs that generate imagery.-Overview:...
and transparency multisampling anti-aliasing modes (TSAA and TMAA). These new anti-aliasing modes were later enabled for the GeForce 6 series as well. The GeForce 7950GT featured the highest performance GPU with an AGP interface in the nVidia line. This era began the transition to the PCI-Express interface.
- A modified version of GeForce 7800GTX called the RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'The RSX 'Reality Synthesizer' is a proprietary graphics processing unit codeveloped by Nvidia and Sony for the PlayStation 3 game console....
is used as the main GPU in the PlayStation 3PlayStation 3The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
from SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
.
GeForce 8 Series
GeForce 8 Series
The GeForce 8 Series, is the eighth generation of NVIDIA's GeForce line of graphics processing units. The third major GPU architecture developed at NVIDIA, the GeForce 8 represents the company's first unified shader architecture.-Naming:...
: Released on November 8, 2006, the 8th generation GeForce (G80 originally) was the first ever GPU to fully support Direct3D
Direct3D
Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface . Direct3D is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems , and for other platforms through the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems...
10. Built on a brand new architecture, manufactured in 80 nm, it has a fully unified shader architecture. Originally just the 8800GTX, the GTS was released months into the product line's life, and it took nearly 6 months for mid-range and OEM/mainstream cards to be integrated into the 8-series. The Die-shrink down to 65 nm and a revision to the G80 design, codenamed G92, were implemented into the 8 series with the 8800GS, the 8800GT, and 8800GTS-512. First released on October 29, 2007, almost one whole year after the initial G80 release.
GeForce 9 Series
GeForce 9 Series
The GeForce 9 Series is the ninth generation of NVIDIA's GeForce series of graphics processing units, the first of which was released on February 21, 2008.-Geforce 9300GE :*65nm G98 GPU*PCI-E x16*64 Bit Bus Width*4 ROP, 8 Unified Shaders...
/ GeForce 100 Series
GeForce 100 Series
The GeForce 100 Series is a family of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia. The first card of this series was launched in January 2009. Similar to the GeForce 300 series, the GeForce 100 series consists of re-branded video cards from the previous generation available only for OEMs. Current...
: The first product was released on February 21, 2008. Not even four months older than the initial G92 release, all 9-series designs, both currently-out and speculated, are simply revisions to existing late 8-series products. The 9800GX2 uses two G92 GPUs, as used in later 8800 cards, in a dual PCB configuration while still only requiring a single PCI-Express 16x slot. The 9800GX2 utilizes two separate 256-bit memory busses, one for each GPU and its respective 512MB of memory, which equates to an overall of 1GB of memory on the card (although the SLI configuration of the chips necessitates mirroring the frame buffer between the two chips, thus effectively halving the memory performance of a 256-bit/512MB configuration). The later 9800GTX features a single G92 GPU, 256-bit data bus, and 512MB of GDDR3 memory. Prior to the release, no concrete information was known except officials claiming the next generation products having close to 1 TFLOPS performance while the GPU cores still being manufactured in the 65 nm process, and reports about Nvidia downplaying the significance of Direct3D
Direct3D
Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface . Direct3D is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems , and for other platforms through the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems...
10.1. On March 2009, several sources reported that nVidia had quietly launched a new series of its flagship GeForce products, designated GeForce 100 Series, which consists of rebadged 9 Series parts. The only official source of information on GeForce 100 Series at this time is "nVidia GeForce Family" web page and corresponding product pages. According to this web page, GeForce 100 products are not available for individual purchase.
GeForce 200 Series
GeForce 200 Series
The GeForce 200 Series is the 10th generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units. The series also represents the continuation of the company's unified shader architecture introduced with the GeForce 8 Series and the GeForce 9 Series. Its primary competition came from ATI's Radeon HD 4000...
/ GeForce 300 Series
GeForce 300 Series
The GeForce 300 Series is a family of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia. The first card of this series was launched in November 2009. Similar to the GeForce 100 series, the GeForce 300 series consists of re-branded video cards from the previous generation available only for OEMs...
: Based on the GT200 graphics processor consisting of 1.4 billion transistors, the 200 series was launched on 16 June 2008. The next generation of the GeForce series takes the card-naming scheme in a new direction, by replacing the series number (such as 8800 for 8-series cards) with the GTX or GTS suffix (which used to go at the end of card names, denoting their 'rank' among other similar models), and then adding model-numbers such as 260 and 280 after that. The series features the new GT200 core on a 65nm
65 nanometer
The 65 nm process is an advanced lithographic node used in volume CMOS semiconductor fabrication. Printed linewidths can reach as low as 25 nm on a nominally 65 nm process, while the pitch between two lines may be greater than 130 nm.. For comparison, cellular ribosomes are...
die. The first products were the GeForce GTX 260 and the more expensive GeForce GTX 280. The GeForce 310 was released on November 27, 2009, which is a rebrand of GeForce 210. According to Nvidia, the naming for the 300 series will be allocated for DirectX 10.1 compatible GPU rebrand in the future.
GeForce 400 Series
GeForce 400 Series
The GeForce 400 Series is the 11th generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units. The series was originally slated for production in November 2009, but, after a number of delays, launched on March 26, 2010 with availability following in April 2010....
/ GeForce 500 Series
GeForce 500 Series
The GeForce 500 Series is a family of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, based on the refreshed Fermi architecture. Nvidia officially announced the GeForce 500 series on 9 November 2010 with the launch of the GeForce GTX 580.- Overview :...
: Nvidia announced and released the GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480, the first cards based on the new Fermi architecture codenamed GF100, and the first to utilize 1GB or more of newer GDDR5
GDDR5
GDDR5 SDRAM is a type of high performance DRAM graphics card memory designed for computer applications requiring high bandwidth...
memory. They were released on April 7, 2010. Later that year, Nvidia introduced the GeForce GTX 465 as a cutdown, cheaper version of the GF100 chip to target at mainstream users. The GTX 465 was quickly replaced by the GTX 460, based on the GF104 architecture, which featured lower power consumption and better performance. Soon after, Nvidia released mainstream versions of Fermi architecture, also known as GF106 and GF108, for consumers as well as OEMs. NVIDIA also released a flagship GPU based on a revised GF100 architecture (GF110), called the GTX 580, that featured higher performance/power efficiency than the GTX 480. Nvidia also recently released two updates to the GTX470 and GTX460, the GTX570 and GTX560 Ti, both of which also feature better performance than their predecessor. They have now phased out the GTX480 and GTX470, while keeping the GTX460 in production as a lower budget high end card. Then came the GTX590, a combination of 2 GTX 580's on one single card. The GTX 590 is Nvidia's most powerful graphics card to date.
Future development
- In September 2010, nVidia officially revealed general information regarding two future lines of GeForce cards, codenamed "Kepler" and "Maxwell". The Kepler architecture, which Nvidia states will be available in Q1 2012, will be the successor to Fermi and will be produced on a 28 nm fabrication process. Maxwell, the probable successor to Kepler, is currently expected to be available in 2014.
mGPUs
Beginning with the nForceNForce
The nForce is a motherboard chipset created by Nvidia for AMD Athlon and Duron microprocessors. The chipset shipped in 3 varieties; 220, 415, and 420. 220 and 420 are very similar with each having the integrated GPU, but the 220 only has a single channel of memory available whereas 420 has the...
4, nVidia has included onboard graphics solutions in their motherboard chipsets. These onboard graphics solutions are called mGPUs (motherboard GPUs). As technology progressed, Nvidia developed a break-through mobile GPU called the NVidia ION graphics processor. The ION GPU can deliver 1080p
1080p
1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....
video without lag or video tearing. ION video evidence
Mobile GPUs
Since the GeForce2, Nvidia has produced a number of graphics chipsets for notebook computers under the GeForce Go branding. Most of the features present in the desktop counterparts are present in the mobile ones. However these GPUs do not perform as well as their desktop counterpart. Nvidia later rebranded their mobile chipset for the GeForce 8 based GPUs the GeForce 8M series.In 1st Quarter 2009 the GeForce 200M series were released. However these cards are actually based on the G92 core also found in 8 and 9 series GPUs, as opposed to a true GT200 core, mainly for power consumption reasons.
Nomenclature
With the release of the GeForce 100 series of cards, nVidia cards started using a suffix to designate their category. The GTX, GTS, GT and G suffixes were announced. The first digit in the name of a card represents its generation, while the second and third digits represent the performance of the card relative to others in the family.The company followed a naming scheme similar to that shown below for the GeForce FX series until the GeForce 9 series.
| Number range (steps of 50) | Category | Suffixes1 | Price range2 (USD United States dollar The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies.... ) |
Shader amount3 | Memory | Outputs | Example products | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Width | Size | |||||||
| 000-550 | Mainstream | SE, LE, GS, GT | ≤$100 | ≤25% | DDR, DDR2 | 25%-50% | ~25% | VGA VGA connector A Video Graphics Array connector is a three-row 15-pin DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA connector is found on many video cards, computer monitors, and some high definition television sets... /DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... |
GeForce 9400GT, GeForce 9500GT |
| 600-750 | Performance | GSO, GTS, GTO | $100–$175 | 25%-50% | DDR2, GDDR3 | 50%-75% | 50%-75% | VGA VGA connector A Video Graphics Array connector is a three-row 15-pin DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA connector is found on many video cards, computer monitors, and some high definition television sets... /DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... Two DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... |
GeForce 9600GT, GeForce 9600GSO |
| 800-950 | Enthusiast | GTX, Ultra, GX2 | ≥$175 | 50%-100% | GDDR3 GDDR3 Graphics Double Data Rate 3 is a graphics card-specific memory technology, designed by ATI Technologies with the collaboration of JEDEC.It has much the same technological base as DDR2, but the power and heat dispersal requirements have been reduced somewhat, allowing for higher performance memory... , GDDR5 GDDR5 GDDR5 SDRAM is a type of high performance DRAM graphics card memory designed for computer applications requiring high bandwidth... |
75%-100% | 50%-100% | VGA VGA connector A Video Graphics Array connector is a three-row 15-pin DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA connector is found on many video cards, computer monitors, and some high definition television sets... /DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... Two DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... /HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface HDMI is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA... |
GeForce 9800GT, GeForce 9800GTX |
Since the release of the GeForce 100 series of GPUs, NVIDIA changed their product naming scheme to the following:
| Prefix | Target | Number Range | Price range2 (USD United States dollar The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies.... ) |
Shader amount3 | Memory | Outputs | Example products | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Width | Size | |||||||
| No prefix, G, or GT | Business, HTPC Home theater PC A Home Theater PC or Media Center appliance is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, music playback, and sometimes video recording functionality... |
00-40 | ≤$100 | ≤25% | DDR2, (G)DDR3 | 25%-50% | ~25% | VGA VGA connector A Video Graphics Array connector is a three-row 15-pin DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA connector is found on many video cards, computer monitors, and some high definition television sets... /DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... |
GeForce 210, GeForce GT 220, GeForce G 405, GeForce 430, GeForce GT 440 |
| GT, GTS | Video Games, Multimedia Multimedia Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or... |
40-50 | $100–$175 | 25%-50% | (G)DDR3, GDDR5 | 50%-75% | 50%-75% | VGA VGA connector A Video Graphics Array connector is a three-row 15-pin DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA connector is found on many video cards, computer monitors, and some high definition television sets... /DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... Two DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... |
GeForce GT 240, GeForce GTS 250, GeForce GTS 450 |
| GTX | Enthusiast | 50-95 | ≥$175 | 50%-100% | GDDR3 GDDR3 Graphics Double Data Rate 3 is a graphics card-specific memory technology, designed by ATI Technologies with the collaboration of JEDEC.It has much the same technological base as DDR2, but the power and heat dispersal requirements have been reduced somewhat, allowing for higher performance memory... , GDDR5 GDDR5 GDDR5 SDRAM is a type of high performance DRAM graphics card memory designed for computer applications requiring high bandwidth... |
75%-100% | 50%-100% | VGA VGA connector A Video Graphics Array connector is a three-row 15-pin DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA connector is found on many video cards, computer monitors, and some high definition television sets... /DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... Two DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... /HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface HDMI is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA... |
(200 Series GeForce 200 Series The GeForce 200 Series is the 10th generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units. The series also represents the continuation of the company's unified shader architecture introduced with the GeForce 8 Series and the GeForce 9 Series. Its primary competition came from ATI's Radeon HD 4000... ) GeForce GTX 260/275/280/285/295, (400 Series GeForce 400 Series The GeForce 400 Series is the 11th generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units. The series was originally slated for production in November 2009, but, after a number of delays, launched on March 26, 2010 with availability following in April 2010.... ) GeForce GTX 460/465/470/480, (500 Series GeForce 500 Series The GeForce 500 Series is a family of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, based on the refreshed Fermi architecture. Nvidia officially announced the GeForce 500 series on 9 November 2010 with the launch of the GeForce GTX 580.- Overview :... ) GeForce GTX 550 Ti/560/560 Ti/570/580/590 |
- cf. Nvidia's Performance Graph here.
- This scheme is only applicable to the GeForce FX series to the GeForce 9 series. GeForce4, GTX200, and other cards follow a similar pattern.
- 1: Suffixes indicate its performance layer, and those listed are in order from weakest to most powerful. Suffixes from lesser categories can still be used on higher performance cards, example: 8800 GT.
- 2: Price range only applies to the most recent generation and is a generalization based on pricing patterns.
- 3: Shader amount compares the number of shaders pipelines or units in that particular model range to the highest model possible in the generation.
See also
- Comparison of Nvidia graphics processing unitsComparison of NVIDIA Graphics Processing UnitsThis page contains general information about Nvidia's GPUs and videocards based on official Nvidia specifications.-Direct X version note:Direct X version indicates which graphics acceleration operations the card supports.* DirectX 6.0 - Multitexturing...
- Nvidia OptimusNvidia OptimusNvidia Optimus is an optimization technology created by Nvidia to save battery life by automatically switching the power of the graphics processing unit off when it is not needed and switching it on when needed again. The technology mainly targets mobile PCs such as notebooks. When the GPU power...
- Graphics card
- Graphics processing unitGraphics processing unitA graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
- RadeonRadeonRadeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by...
- Video In Video Out (VIVO)Video In Video OutVideo In Video Out, usually seen as the acronym VIVO , is a graphics port which enables some video cards to have bidirectional analog video transfer through a mini-DIN connector, usually of the 9-pin variety, and a specialised splitter cable .VIVO is found on high-end ATI and NVIDIA...