Bought a GALAXY GeForce 210 graphics card

[Jstn7477]

Hey guys,

For the hell of it, I went to Best Buy (yes, I know they have ridiculous markups on everything) to look for a low-mid end graphics card for an older socket 754 Athlon 64/nForce 4 PCIe machine. I happened to stumble across some oddly new graphics cards that didn't have a price on them. Both were form GALAXY, and they were the GeForce G210 (16 shader) and GT220 (48 shader) cards that are supposed to be OEM cards only. Since these are extremely fresh 40nm parts with DX10.1/SM4.1/OpenGL 3.0 support, I figured I would try one out vs. the older 9400 GT. So, I got home, opened the box and popped the cooler (which is a blower-style) off, to discover one of the smallest GPU dies that I have ever seen. It's much smaller than even my G98 8400GS die. So, I wanted to see how well this card would perform, so I ripped the 9800GT out of my main rig that gets a perfect 60FPS maxed out (with VSYNC) on Team Fortress 2, even in 32 player servers. I was quite pleasantly surprised: with all settings "High", 1440*900 res. and 16xAF/0xAA the card never went under 30FPS. The card seems to overclock as well as my 8400GS 65nm. With NVIDIA System Tools 6.05, I got up to 800/1750/480 (highest mem freq. the program allows) with no errors in OCCT GPU after a quick round of overclocking.

I'm currently searching for a Windows version of NVFLASH newer than 5.67, as it doesn't detect my card, and my Crosshair III has no floppy connector provisions. Not sure if NiBiTor has support for it either yet, as I can't dump the BIOS. GPU-Z 0.3.5 has very little to no information on this card, but it does correctly detect frequencies and die temperature.

Card Specs (as far as I know)
GALAXY GeForce 210 (GT218, 40nm, 512MB 64bit DDR2)
Stock Clocks: 589/1400/400
DX 10.1/SM 4.1/OGL 3.0
16 shaders according to NV, probably 4 rops?
VGA/DVI/HDMI (on-chip 7.1 NVIDIA HD Audio device)
Retail Price: $69.99 USD + tax (119.99 for the 48 shader/128 bit GT220)

I don't have a digital camera, but I may be able to scan the box and card with my AIO printer/scanner and upload some pics later. Hope this information is beneficial.

EDIT: I forgot about my LG EnV Touch's awesome 3.2MP camera. Got some nice pics to upload.

GPU-Z 0.3.5

Box Art (scanned front):

Part of the back box art, touting NVIDIA's typical PhysX and CUDA marketing BS:

Card Front:

Card Back:

GeForce 210 (top) vs. PNY GeForce 8400 GS PCI (G98, 8 shaders, 65nm):

"Leaf blower" cooler, all aluminum, sleeve bearing fan (40mm?):

Pasty die + the DDR2 memory chips:

Tiny GT218 die, as compared to a United States Dime (10 cent piece, smallest US coin):

GT218 die, exposed:

GT218 40nm 16sp vs. G98 65nm vs US Dime:

Samsung K4N1G1640E-HC25 DDR2 ICs, 4 total:

VRM controllers. Both are the same. They read:

"uP6161S14
VGK97D"

GT218 Die, as compared to a Lexar 4GB MicroSDHC memory card:

Comparison to a PNY XLR8 9800 GT (NVIDIA Reference board, 55nm) with a Zalman VF-1000 aftermarket cooler installed

Cooler, disassembled:

#############################################################################################################
#############################################################################################################

Now, for the synthetic benchmarks. All benchmarks are tested on an ASUS Crosshair III Formula 790FX/SB750 AM3 motherboard with an underclocked and undervolted Phenom II X4 955BE to 2.6GHz/1.25v to save a little juice. 4GB DDR3-1600 9-8-8-24 system RAM. OS is Windows 7 Professional x64, retail 7600. All benchmarks are set with DEFAULT SETTINGS.

3DMark01 SE (stock clocks):

3DMark01 SE (OC'd):

3DMark03 (stock):

3DMark03 (OC'd):

Quick 3DMark 2006 run. Card at stock frequencies 590/1400/400.

Overclocked (not max OC):

A run of 3DMark Vantage, on Entry level settings. Card at 775/1725/480. Don't know if PhysX was on or not.

And Performace Preset:

 

[RadeonProVega]

Interesting i haven't seen those cards at any of the best buys in my area yet, very nice.
Anyways, can you please post your GPU-Z, so i can see the specs.
Enjoy your card dude and thanks for shopping at bestbuy!

 

[wolf2009]

nm, got it.

 

[Jstn7477]

GPU-Z Validation:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/47gh7/

@Wolf2009: The G210 that I bought was $69.99 (typical BB prices). I think BB is the only place that has these currently (nothing on Newegg).

 

[[Ion]]

Hey guys,

For the hell of it, I went to Best Buy (yes, I know they have ridiculous markups on everything) to look for a low-mid end graphics card for an older socket 754 Athlon 64/nForce 4 PCIe machine. I happened to stumble across some oddly new graphics cards that didn't have a price on them. Both were form GALAXY, and they were the GeForce G210 (16 shader) and GT220 (48 shader) cards that are supposed to be OEM cards only. Since these are extremely fresh 40nm parts with DX10.1/SM4.1/OpenGL 3.0 support, I figured I would try one out vs. the older 9400 GT. So, I got home, opened the box and popped the cooler (which is a blower-style) off, to discover one of the smallest GPU dies that I have ever seen. It's much smaller than even my G98 8400GS die. So, I wanted to see how well this card would perform, so I ripped the 9800GT out of my main rig that gets a perfect 60FPS maxed out (with VSYNC) on Team Fortress 2, even in 32 player servers. I was quite pleasantly surprised: with all settings "High", 1440*900 res. and 16xAF/0xAA the card never went under 30FPS. The card seems to overclock as well as my 8400GS 65nm. With NVIDIA System Tools 6.05, I got up to 800/1750/480 (highest mem freq. the program allows) with no errors in OCCT GPU after a quick round of overclocking.

I'm currently searching for a Windows version of NVFLASH newer than 5.67, as it doesn't detect my card, and my Crosshair III has no floppy connector provisions. Not sure if NiBiTor has support for it either yet, as I can't dump the BIOS. GPU-Z 0.3.5 has very little to no information on this card, but it does correctly detect frequencies and die temperature.

Card Specs (as far as I know)
GALAXY GeForce 210 (GT218, 40nm, 512MB 64bit DDR2)
Stock Clocks: 589/1400/400
DX 10.1/SM 4.1/OGL 3.0
16 shaders according to NV, probably 4 rops?
VGA/DVI/HDMI (on-chip 7.1 NVIDIA HD Audio device)
Retail Price: $69.99 USD + tax (119.99 for the 48 shader/128 bit GT220)

I don't have a digital camera, but I may be able to scan the box and card with my AIO printer/scanner and upload some pics later. Hope this information is beneficial.

The G210 sounds like a 9400GT, the GT220 sounds like a 9600GSO 512mb (G96)

 

[RadeonProVega]

GPU-Z Validation:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/47gh7/

@Wolf2009: The G210 that I bought was $69.99 (typical BB prices). I think BB is the only place that has these currently (nothing on Newegg).

um someone please just post the gpu-z from the camera please, those stats on that page is seriously inaccurate haha

 

[Jstn7477]

um someone please just post the gpu-z from the camera please, those stats on that page is seriously inaccurate haha

GPU-Z doesn't support my card 100%. That is the legitimate information that GPU-Z is reporting, that's why it's a validation.

Here's the snapshot:

 

[JayliN]

thats awesome, from best buy no less. Wish you had gotten the 48 shader one too to see how that one performs. thanks for the review

 

[Jstn7477]

thats awesome, from best buy no less. Wish you had gotten the 48 shader one too to see how that one performs. thanks for the review

If I had the money, I probably would have bought the GT220, but at that price point, I could buy another 9800 GT or even a 4850 (thanks to BB's ridiculous pricing). I prefer the small, 30w G210 anyway as it's quieter, cooler, and low-profile too. I bought it because for my current needs, the 9800 GT is overkill for Valve games like Team Fortress 2 that need a good multicore CPU more than a big GPU, and the 9800 GT was the noisiest, hottest item in my case. If I really do play something in the future that needs more oomph, i'll just throw my 9800 back in.

Speaking of temps, this card hasn't seen temperatures of over 64c with the stock 4 bolt reference cooler (nearly same as NVIDIA G210 reference cooler on their webpage for the card).

On a side note, all 4 memory chips are on the top side of the card, and cooled directly by the heatsink too. I'll try to pull the card and scan it front and back later, and put it side by side with my 8400GS 65nm standard PCI card.

 

[Jstn7477]

The G210 sounds like a 9400GT, the GT220 sounds like a 9600GSO 512mb (G96)

Doesn't the GSO have 96 shaders (original 9600 GT has 64)?

 

[wolf2009]

Doesn't the GSO have 96 shaders (original 9600 GT has 64)?

newer 9600gso has 48 shaders on 128-bit memory interface

 

[Jstn7477]

newer 9600gso has 48 shaders on 128-bit memory interface

Oh, you are right. Just checked Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_nVidia_gpus#GeForce_9_.289xxx.29_series

Too many different 9600GSO variations.

 

[W1zzard]

nvidia's retail launch for these cards is next week, gpuz will also be updated to properly support them

 

[Jstn7477]

nvidia's retail launch for these cards is next week, gpuz will also be updated to properly support them

Thanks W1zzard! I will update my mini-review accordingly with the new version of GPU-z when it is released.

It's interesting to hear that NVIDIA's launch of these cards is supposed to be next week. Maybe that explains why I haven't seen them anywhere else, as maybe the Best Buy drones put them on the shelf too early.

 

[3870x2]

nvidia's retail launch for these cards is next week, gpuz will also be updated to properly support them

BRING THE THUNDER, yes, w1zzard is already on top of it.

 

[RadeonProVega]

Why does alot of people always seem to have trouble running GPU-z with their video cards?
I never once had any information on none of my GPU's become inaccurate or not readable using GPU-Z, but you guys or other folks on other sites and forums do lol.

Box Art (scanned front):

http://img.techpowerup.org/091005/Galaxy G210.png

WOW, seems to be a mid end card?

 

[Jstn7477]

Why does alot of people always seem to have trouble running GPU-z with their video cards?
I never once had any information on none of my GPU's become inaccurate or not readable using GPU-Z, but you guys or other folks on other sites and forums do lol.


WOW, seems to be a mid end card?

The card hasn't been launched yet, even though I just bought one yesterday. W1zzard has to add all the GPU info to GPU-Z, as the application is basically a database.

 

[kurosagi01]

Why does alot of people always seem to have trouble running GPU-z with their video cards?
I never once had any information on none of my GPU's become inaccurate or not readable using GPU-Z, but you guys or other folks on other sites and forums do lol.


WOW, seems to be a mid end card?

cards that are mid-range are around 8800GT(9800GT),4830,4770 and 9600GT range type.
You wouldn't consider 8800GT to be a high end as the high end cards are around the GTX260 area and 4850-4890 to 5850 and 5870

 

[RadeonProVega]

Oh

 

[Jstn7477]

Pics uploaded.

 

[Zubasa]

Now lets get up a quick run of H.A.W.X.!

 

[erocker]

They have these cards at my local Best Buy as well. I thought Nvidia scrapped them all together!

 

[Zubasa]

They have these cards at my local Best Buy as well. I thought Nvidia scrapped them all together!

This is an OEM product originally, nV can now say "hay louk! we got dee axe 10 point 1! Don't buy that 'ey tee ay'!".
They also make Dell's life easier to charge $100 for this "state of the art" product as an "extra value upgrade".

Edit: I forgot this card also have Physx+CUDA+ Badaboom so it can convert pron to the iPhone to watch in the bus.

 

[Jstn7477]

This is an OEM product originally, nV can now say "hay louk! we got dee axe 10 point 1! Don't buy that 'ey tee ay'!".
They also make Dell's life easier to charge $100 for this "state of the art" product as an "extra value upgrade".

Edit: I forgot this card also have Physx+CUDA+ Badaboom so it can convert pron to the iPhone to watch in the bus.

Those cheap NV people only gave me a trial version of Badaboom on the driver disc. Haven't tried it out, as I don't have any videos to put on my iPod touch 16GB 2nd Gen.

 

[Jstn7477]

Quick 3DMark 2006 run. My Phenom II X4 955 is underclocked and undervolted to 2.6GHz/1.25v to save a little juice. Card at stock frequencies 590/1400/400.

Overclocked (not max OC):