A 2GB version of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 220

Mar 19, 2010 15:47 GMT  ·  By

Considering that graphics card makers have announced their intention to launch certain super-powered DirectX 11 graphics with 2GB or even 4GB of memory, it's not surprising to hear that Sparkle is also working on its own version. What is surprising, however, and most likely, in a way, lacking the “wow” factor that ASUS' Ares, for example, has, is to hear that a company is packing 2GB of DDR2 inside a graphics card from the previous-generation NVIDIA GeForce GT Series, in this case the GT220.

One can only wonder why Sparkle would push so much memory inside a low-end card when 512MB or 1GB would have been more than enough. Still, the device is there and is described as “the first GT220 graphics card on market with 2GB video memory configuration, bringing incredible 3D power to mainstream gamers.” Indeed, there has never been a GT220 with 2GB of memory, but, realistically speaking, there is little chance that this board could rival stronger models, which have faster GPUs and more processing cores, through virtue of extra memory alone.

The specifications of the new GeForce GT220 include a meager 48 processing cores, support for DirectX 10.1, CUDA, a 128-bit memory interface and a dual-slot cooler. The GPU has a clock speed of 625MHz, whereas the shader and memory are set at 1360MHz and 800MHz, respectively.

Furthermore, the device uses an all-solid-capacitor design and has, as video output options, D-Sub, DVI and HDMI outputs. Finally, the adapter has full support for PhysX and Stereoscopic 3D. This feature set, according to the manufacturer, and the 2GB of memory supposedly enable the card to play such games as Crysis 2, Stalker: Call Of Pripyat and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

The hardware maker did not disclose any pricing and availability details, but end-users that are interested may see the full information on the official website.