Every now and then the circle of life demands that the old leave to make way for the new. As for the life cycle of graphics cards the 210 is another turn of the wheel.

The card is here to replace the existing 8400GS and cards in that near proximity. There are some improvements on its predecessors, like its build on a 40nm technology, which promises cooler operation with lesser power consumption, and there is no complains there as the card did just that when we tested. The fan is small enough not to be audible.

Performance fell a little  bit short of expectation but it finished the 3Dmark06 test non the less, scoring just over 3500 points. Not what we would call fantastic, but good enough to play older games with lower settings. For a home computer meant to run Bluray movies, and those colourful kindergarden software for kids, this card will do just fine.

Interestingly enough the card is able to use system memory too. It comes with 512MB of memory onboard, and its able to share another 512MB from the system should the need arise.
One of the more handy feature is that SPDIF cable is not needed for digital audio to channel through the HDMI port.

All up, it comes down to you get what you pay for. The card is will serve in its expected target market well. Issue will only arise if someone takes it to be some where near the former nVidia 200 series if it can be called so. The former lineup being the GTX260, GTX280 and so forth. That would be like comparing apples and oranges, or make that cherries and watermelons. The card is decent for what it is, but named to sound like something it is not.

Comments

John

0

 

 

This card was not so bad really...

Monday 04 January 2010, 00:51

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