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nVidia's GeForce 6200 graphics processor |
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Written by Phyro
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Monday, 11 October 2004 |
The Tech Report has just published a review on the nVidia GeForce 6200 Reference card. When nVidia first announced the GeForce 6800 series, the company boasted that its new graphics architecture would scale down to mid-range and value markets by the end of the year. GeForce 6 trickle-down has already spawned the GeForce 6600 series, whose performance and feature set are a revelation for the mid-range market. Today, nVidia extends the GeForce 6 series even further into the value segment with the GeForce 6200. This four-pipe GeForce 6 brings Shader Model 3.0 support to graphics cards in and around the $129 mark, giving cash-strapped gamers an intriguing new low-end option.
 nVidia's GeForce 6200 graphics processor
The GeForce 6200 graphics chip is a four-pipe derivative of the NV43 GPU that powers the GeForce 6600 series. Like the rest of the GeForce 6 line, the 6200
utilizes a fragment crossbar to link pixel shaders and raster operators (ROPs) within the pixel pipeline. Rather than being bound to a single pixel shader, ROPs are free to tackle output from any of the chip's pixel shaders. This rather promiscuous arrangement allows nVidia to pair eight pixel shaders with only four ROPs on the GeForce 6600, saving transistors without catastrophically
bottlenecking performance. With the GeForce 6200, nVidia pairs four pixel pipes with four ROPs. There's no transistor savings, but the fragment crossbar may
offer a clock-for-clock performance advantage over more traditional designs.
When nVidia launched the GeForce 6800, they talked up the new architecture as a scalable design that would power a top-to-bottom line of graphics cards. With
the GeForce 6200, that top-to-bottom line is complete, at least as far as add-in desktop graphics cards are concerned. The GeForce 6200 brings the impressive
rendering capabilities of the GeForce 6 series to the budget space with fewer compromises than one might expect. The GeForce 6200's strong performance in Doom
3 shows that this budget card isn't too short on pixel processing power.
Priced between $129 and $149, the GeForce 6200 will do battle with ATI's Radeon X300 and Radeon X600 Pro. Against the X300, the GeForce 6200 is clearly superior. However, with the exception of Doom 3, the X600 Pro's performance is tough to match. The GeForce 6200 performs exceptionally well given its relatively low clock speeds, but against a card with a 100MHz core and memory
clock advantage, there's only so much it can do.
In some circles, the GeForce 6200 will also compete with Intel's Graphics Media Accelerator 900. Those who purchase PCs from the big PC makers will likely have the option of going with integrated graphics or trading up to something like the GeForce 6200. Based the performance of the GMA 900, trading up looks like the only viable option for gaming, at least with newer titles. The GMA
900's lack of shader power has a devastating impact on performance, and it's rare that pixel shader effects are even displayed correctly. To make matters
worse, the GMA isn't detected as a DirectX 9 graphics option by some games.
As I wrap things up, I can't help but be struck by the GeForce 6200 graphic chip's relatively large die size. It appears to be an NV43 with some of its pixel shaders disabled, and it's a big chip for what should be a very high volume part. I wouldn't be surprised to see a GeForce 6100 or 6300 emerge at some point down the road with a smaller die size and perhaps four pixel pipes
bound to two ROPs using that fancy fragment crossbar.
Whatever happens in the future, right now the GeForce 6200 is a pretty compelling graphics card for budget-minded gamers. It's clearly a better option than the Radeon X300, but add-in board manufacturers are going to have to have to break out some Turbo Golden Sample Special Editions with higher clock speeds to catch the Radeon X600 Pro.
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