Conclusion

At first glance, the new Nvidia GPU that tends to be the world’s fastest monolithic graphics processor these days made very ambiguous impression. Unlike ATI RV770, it cannot boast that many innovations compared with the previous generation graphics processors, so we can’t call it a revolutionary. G200 is more likely to be considered further extensive development of ideas first brought up in G80. Moreover, we sometimes get the impression that they were in a real hurry when designing this chip. In fact, there was no need for rush, because ATI chose a completely different strategy and gave up the high-performance monolithic GPU concept altogether.

Actually, G200 could be regarded as “G92 on steroids”. Just look at the increased number of all functional units: ALU, TMU, RBE, and wider 512bit memory bus. The only significant architectural change is the addition of the third shader processor into computational clusters that use to have only two of those.

The results of preliminary theoretical benchmarks turned out not very optimistic. New Nvidia’s solution lost to a simpler and cheaper ATI RV770 in a lot of synthetic benchmarks except the fillrate test and texture sampling pure performance. Theoretically, G200 based solutions should feel at home in those games that have a lot of high-resolution complex textures and shaders working mostly with textures, and should lose to ATI only in those games that require high mathematical performance. Moreover, 512-bit memory bus and 32 RBE may be extremely useful in high resolutions with enabled anti-aliasing, which will definitely attract a number of hardcore gamers.

We don’t quite understand why Nvidia bet on texturing performance. This parameter becomes less important because most games are developed for multiple platforms right from the start. Since gaming consoles have limited hardware resources, the main focus here is on special effects that use a lot of complex mathematical calculations on few texture samples. Even the graphics is initially designed for lower resolutions than those typical of contemporary PC platforms.

However, what made the new Nvidia G200 solution truly arguable, is not choosing texturing performance over arithmetic, or monolithic GPU design, but a combination of both. As a result, the new GPU die grew enormously big and complex: 576sq.mm and 1.4 billion transistors. However, it still appeared less powerful than a pair of G92s in an SLI configuration. Gigantic size and unprecedented complexity made this GPU extremely expensive to make and lowered the production yields. Besides, G200 requires complex PCB layout because of 512-bit memory bus. As a result, the cards based on this new GPU, Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 260, turned out pretty expensive and Nvidia had to drop the prices right after the launch of ATI Radeon HD 4800. It was certainly painful for them, if we take into account a lower margin they ended up with.

Nvidia G200 may become the last premium graphics card based on a single mega-chip, because the company has already faced pretty serious difficulties: look at the lower frequency of the new GPU that caused it to lose in several benchmarks. Further increase of the GPU potential may lead to even greater problems.

As for the specific graphics cards we have discussed today, Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 260, we will be able to share our final verdict only after releasing the gaming benchmark results. According to our preliminary estimates, the top model has every chance to become a performance leader at least until ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 comes out. However, the performance advantage over ATI Radeon HD 4870 will most likely be not as dramatic as Nvidia had hoped. As for Nvidia GeForce GTX 260, it looks pretty competitive priced at $299, although its pretty large size may prevent it from becoming a gaming bestseller (it may not fit in a number of system cases).

Gainward GeForce GTX280 1024MB Summary

Gainward GeForce GTX280 1024MB belongs to the top price range, but its relatively scarce accessories bundle slightly spoils the overall impression:

Highs:

• Wide range of supported FSAA modes;
• Minimal effect of enabled FSAA on performance;
• Excellent quality of anisotropic filtering;
• 240 shader processors, 80 texturing units, 32 RBE
• 1024MB of video memory with 512-bit access bus;
• Hardware HD-video decoding support;
• S/PDIF sound over HDMI;
• No compatibility issues with existing mainboards;
• Stylish high-quality packaging.

Lows:

• Performance shift towards TMU and RBE;
• No DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1 support;
• Incomplete support of VC-1 decoding;
• No integrated sound core;
• High power consumption;
• High noise;
• Scanty accessories: no adapters and no software for playback of HD video content bundled with the card.

Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 Summary

This solution may become pretty attractive, if it retails for no more than ATI Radeon HD 4870. Just like in the previous case, we were very pleased with stylish quality packaging, but upset about scanty accessories with a few important items missing.

Highs:

• Wide range of supported FSAA modes;
• Minimal effect of enabled FSAA on performance;
• Excellent quality of anisotropic filtering;
• 192 shader processors, 64 texturing units, 28 RBE
• 896MB of video memory with 448-bit access bus;
• Hardware HD-video decoding support;
• S/PDIF sound over HDMI;
• No compatibility issues with existing mainboards;
• Stylish high-quality packaging.

Lows:

• Performance shift towards TMU and RBE;
• Limited computational block;
• Doubtful success against ATI Radeon HD 4870
• No DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1 support;
• Incomplete support of VC-1 decoding;
• No integrated sound core;
• High level of generated noise;
• Scanty accessories: no DVI-I → HDMI adapter and no software for playback of HD video content.

When you consider the highs and lows for Gainward and Leadtek graphics cards, please, keep in mind that GeForce GTX 200 is targeted for gamers in the first place. Therefore, DVI-I → HDMI adapter, integrated sound core and software player for Blu-ray/HD DVD movies may not be a necessity at all.