GeForce 200 series explained

GeForce 200 series
Codename:GT200
Architecture:Tesla
Model:GeForce series
Model1:GeForce GT series
Model2:GeForce GTS series
Model3:GeForce GTX series
Transistors:505M 55nm (G94b)
Transistors1:754M 55nm (G92b)
Transistors2:260M 40nm (GT218)
Transistors3:486M 40nm (GT216)
Transistors4:727M 40nm (GT215)
Transistors5:1,400M 65nm (GT200a)
Transistors6:1,400M 55nm (GT200b)
Entry:GT 205
GT 210
GT 220
GT 230
Midrange:GT 240
GTS 250
Highend:GTX 260
GTX 275
GTX 280
Enthusiast:GTX 285
GTX 295
D3dversion:Direct3D 10.0 or 10.1
Shader Model 4.1
Openclversion:OpenCL 1.1
Predecessor:GeForce 9 series
Variant:GeForce 300 series
Successor:GeForce 400 series
Support Status:Unsupported

The GeForce 200 series is a series of Tesla-based GeForce graphics processing units developed by Nvidia.

Architecture

See main article: Tesla (microarchitecture). The GeForce 200 series introduced Nvidia's second generation of Tesla (microarchitecture), Nvidia's unified shader architecture; the first major update to it since introduced with the GeForce 8 series.

The GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 are based on the same processor core. During the manufacturing process, GTX chips were binned and separated through defect testing of the core's logic functionality. Those that fail to meet the GTX 280 hardware specification are re-tested and binned as GTX 260 (which is specified with fewer stream processors, fewer ROPs and a narrower memory bus).

In late 2008, Nvidia re-released the GTX 260 with 216 stream processors, up from 192. Effectively, there were two GTX 260 cards in production with non-trivial performance differences.

The GeForce 200 series GPUs (GT200a/b GPU), excluding GeForce GTS 250, GTS 240 GPUs (these are older G92b GPUs), have double precision support for use in GPGPU applications. GT200 GPUs also have improved performance in geometry shading.

, the GT200 is the seventh largest commercial GPU ever constructed, consisting of 1.4 billion transistors covering a 576 mm2 die surface area built on a 65 nm process. It is the fifth largest CMOS-logic chip that has been fabricated at the TSMC foundry. The GeForce 400 series have since superseded the GT200 chips in transistor count, but the original GT200 dies still exceed the GF100 die size. It is larger than even the Kepler-based GK210 GPU used in the Tesla K80, which has 7.1 billion transistors on a 561 mm2 die manufactured in 28 nm.[1] The Ampere GA100 is currently the largest commercial GPU ever fabricated at 826 mm2 with 54.2 billion transistors.[2]

Nvidia officially announced and released the retail version of the previously OEM only GeForce 210 (GT218 GPU) and GeForce GT 220 (GT216 GPU) on October 12, 2009. Nvidia officially announced and released the GeForce GT 240 (GT215 GPU) on November 17, 2009. The new 40nm GPUs feature the new PureVideo HD VP4 decoder hardware in them, as the older GeForce 8 and 9 GPUs only have PureVideo HD VP2 or VP3 (G98). They also support Compute Capability 1.2, whereas older GeForce 8 and 9 GPUs only supported Compute Capability 1.1. All GT21x GPUs also contain an audio processor inside and support eight-channel LPCM output through HDMI.

Chipset table

GeForce 200 series

All models support Coverage Sample Anti-Aliasing, Angle-Independent Anisotropic Filtering, 240-bit OpenEXR HDR.

ModelLaunchCode nameFab (nm)Transistors (Million)Die size (mm2)Bus interfaceCore config 1Clock rateFillrateMemory configurationAPI support (version)Processing Power GFLOPSTDP (watts)Comments
Core (MHz)Shader (MHz)Memory (MHz)Pixel (GP/s)Texture (GT/s)Size (MB)Bandwidth (GB/s)DRAM typeBus width (bit)DirectXOpenGLVulkan
GeForce 205November 26, 2009GT2184026057PCIe 2.0 x168:4:4589140210002.3562.3565128DDR26410.13.333.430.5OEM only
GeForce 210October 12, 2009GT2184026057PCIe 2.0 x16
PCIe x1
PCI
16:8:4520
589
1230
1402
1000–16002.3564.712512
1024
4.0
8.0
12.8
DDR2
DDR3
32
64
67.29630.5
GeForce GT 220October 12, 2009GT21640486100PCIe 2.0 x1648:16:8615(OEM)
625
1335(OEM)
1360
1000
1580
510512
1024
16.0
25.3
128192(OEM)
196
58
GeForce GT 230 v.12009G94b55505196 [3] PCIe 2.0 x1648:24:166501625180010.415.6512
1024
57.6GDDR32561023475OEM only
GeForce GT 230 v.22009G92b55754260PCIe 2.0 x1696:48:1250012421000624153624DDR219210357.6975OEM only
GeForce GT 240November 17, 2009GT21540727139PCIe 2.0 x1696:32:855013401800
2000
3400(GDDR5)
4.417.6512
1024
28.8(OEM)
32
54.4(GDDR5)
DDR3
GDDR3
GDDR5
12810.1385.969
GeForce GTS 240Q4 2009G92a
G92b
65
55
754324
260
PCIe 2.0 x16112:56:166751620220010.837.8102470.4GDDR325610.0554.32120OEM only
GeForce GTS 250 Green2009G92b65
55
754260PCIe 2.0 x16128:64:167021512200011.244.9512
1024
64.0256581130
GeForce GTS 250March 3, 2009G92-428-B165
55
754260PCIe 2.0 x16128:64:1673818362000
2200
11.80847.232512
1024
64.0
70.4
256705.024150Some cards are rebranded GeForce 9800 GTX+
GeForce GTX 260June 16, 2008GT200-100-A2651400576PCIe 2.0 x16192:64:285761242199816.12836.864896 (1792)[4] 111.9448715.392202Replaced by GTX 260 Core 216
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216September 16, 2008GT200-103-A2
GT200-105-B3
65
55
1400576
470
PCIe 2.0 x16216:72:285761242199816.12841.472896 (1792)111.9448804.816
874.8
182
171
GeForce GTX 275April 9, 2009GT200-400-B3551400470PCIe 2.0 x16240:80:286331404226817.72450.6896127.04481010.880219Effectively one-half of the GTX 295
GeForce GTX 280June 17, 2008GT200-300-A2651400576PCIe 2.0 x16240:80:326021296221419.26448.161024 (2048*)141.7512933.120236MSI launched a 2GB version. Replaced by GTX 285
GeForce GTX 285January 15, 2009GT200-350-B3551400470PCIe 2.0 x16240:80:326481476248420.73651.841024 (2048*)159.05121062.72204Palit, EVGA and BFG launched 2GB versions. EVGA GTX285 Classified can support 4-way SLI
GeForce GTX 295January 8, 20092× GT200-400-B3552× 14002× 470PCIe 2.0 x162× 240:80:28576124219982× 16.1282× 46.082× 8962× 111.92× 4481788.480289Dual PCB models were phased out in favor of a single PCB model with 2 GPUs
ModelLaunchCode nameFab (nm)Transistors (Million)Die size (mm2)Bus interfaceCore config 1Clock rateFillrateMemory configurationAPI support (version)Processing Power GFLOPSTDP (watts)Comments
Core (MHz)Shader (MHz)Memory (MHz)Pixel (GP/s)Texture (GT/s)Size (MB)Bandwidth (GB/s)DRAM typeBus width (bit)DirectXOpenGLVulkan

Features

Compute Capability: 1.1 (G92 [GTS250] GPU)
Compute Capability: 1.2 (GT215, GT216, GT218 GPUs)
Compute Capability: 1.3 has double precision support for use in GPGPU applications. (GT200a/b GPUs only)

ModelFeatures
Scalable Link Interface (SLI)PureVideo 2 with VP2Engine: (BSP and 240 AES)PureVideo 4 with VP4 Engine
GeForce 210colspan="3" rowspan="3"
GeForce GT 220
GeForce GT 240
GeForce GTS 250colspan="1" rowspan="8"
GeForce GTX 260
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 (55 nm)
GeForce GTX 275
GeForce GTX 280
GeForce GTX 285
GeForce GTX 295

GeForce 200M (2xxM) Series

The GeForce 200M Series is a graphics processor architecture for notebooks.

ModelLaunchCode nameFab (nm)Bus interfaceCore config1Clock speedFillrateMemoryAPI support (version)Processing Power (GFLOPS)TDP (watts)Notes
Core (MHz)Shader (MHz)Memory (MHz)Pixel (GP/s)Texture (GT/s)Size (MiB)Bandwidth (GB/s)Bus typeBus width (bit)DirectXOpenGLVulkan
GeForce G210MJune 15, 2009GT21840PCIe 2.0 x1616:8:4625150016002.5551212.8GDDR36410.13.37214Lower clocked versions of the GT218 core is also known as Nvidia ION 2
GeForce GT 220M2009G96b55PCIe 2.0 x1632:16:850012501000
1600
48102416
25.6
DDR2
GDDR3
12810.012014Rebranded 9600M GT @55 nm node shrink
GeForce GT 230MJune 15, 2009GT21640PCIe 2.0 x1648:16:85001100160048102425.6GDDR312810.115823
GeForce GT 240MJune 15, 2009GT21640PCIe 2.0 x1648:16:8550121016004.48.8102425.6GDDR312817423
GeForce GTS 250MJune 15, 2009GT21540PCIe 2.0 x1696:32:850012503200416102451.2GDDR512836028
GeForce GTS 260MJune 15, 2009GT21540PCIe 2.0 x1696:32:8550137536004.417.6102457.6GDDR512839638
GeForce GTX 260MMarch 3, 2009G92b55PCIe 2.0 x16112:56:16550137519008.830.8102460.8GDDR325610.046265
GeForce GTX 280MMarch 3, 2009G92b55PCIe 2.0 x16128:64:16585146319009.3637.44102460.8GDDR325656275
GeForce GTX 285MFebruary 1, 2010G92b55PCIe 2.0 x16128:64:16600150020009.638.4102464.0GDDR325657675Higher clocked version of GTX280M with improved memory
ModelLaunchCode nameFab (nm)Bus interfaceCore config1Clock speedFillrateMemoryAPI support (version)Processing Power (GFLOPS)TDP (watts)Notes
Core (MHz)Shader (MHz)Memory (MHz)Pixel (GP/s)Texture (GT/s)Size (MiB)Bandwidth (GB/s)Bus typeBus width (bit)DirectXOpenGLVulkan

Discontinued support

Nvidia ceased driver support for GeForce 200 series on April 1, 2016.[5]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Smith. Ryan. NVIDIA Launches Tesla K80, GK210 GPU. AnandTech. January 9, 2015.
  2. Web site: NVIDIA Ampere Unleashed: NVIDIA Announces New GPU Architecture, A100 GPU, and Accelerator.
  3. Web site: NVIDIA GeForce GT 230 Specs .
  4. Web site: Does the GTX260 (1.8GB version) have any direct competition? .
  5. http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3473 EOL driver support for legacy products