NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 OEM

NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 220 OEM is a legacy entry-level graphics card from the GeForce 200 generation, built on the Tesla 2.0 architecture using the GT215 chip. Fabricated on TSMC’s 40 nm process, the card integrates 727 million transistors on a 144 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 5.0M per mm². With a production status of end-of-life and no benchmark scores or nearest rivals listed, the data here focuses on its architectural specifications, feature set, and memory subsystem as a historical OEM offering.

Benchmark Performance

The FACT PACK does not include any individual benchmark scores for the GeForce GT 220 OEM, nor does it list average benchmark scores or percentile rankings against other GPUs. Its percentile vs. all GPUs is recorded at 50, but this is a neutral midpoint indicator without supporting performance data—it does not suggest a competitive position, merely a statistical centering. The card’s raw compute figures, however, provide a baseline for expectation: FP32 performance is 97.15 GFLOPS, which is modest even for its 2009 release window. Pixel fill rate sits at 4.048 GPixel/s, and texture fill rate at 8.096 GTexel/s, driven by 48 shading units, 16 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 8 render output units (ROPs). These numbers indicate a card designed for basic desktop acceleration and light 3D workloads, not for gaming at playable frame rates beyond low settings and older titles. The 50th percentile placement, in the absence of rival data, suggests a typical mid-pack card among all GPUs ever released—but given the vintage and the absence of benchmark entries, that figure should be read as a placeholder rather than a performance endorsement. The data shows no overclocking headroom indicators, no boost clocks, and only a base memory clock of 700 MHz (1400 Mbps effective). Consequently, the GT 220 OEM’s performance is best described as sufficient for 2D tasks and undemanding 3D applications, with no evidence to suggest it competes with any modern or even contemporary discrete GPUs.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The GeForce GT 220 OEM predates ray tracing acceleration entirely; the FACT PACK lists null values for both RT cores and tensor cores. This means the card has no dedicated hardware for ray-traced lighting or AI-driven features like DLSS. Instead, its feature set is anchored to the APIs it supports: DirectX 11.1 (10_1) and OpenGL 3.3. The DirectX 11.1 support is notable because it is listed with a parentheses specifying (10_1)—this indicates the card’s actual shader model capability is limited to DirectX 10.1 features, despite the driver exposing 11.1 interfaces. This is a critical distinction: the hardware itself is not fully DirectX 11 compliant, so any game requiring full D3D11 feature levels will either fail to run or fall back to a 10_1 path. Vulkan support is null, meaning no Vulkan API access. The display outputs are 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, and 1x VGA, which is typical for an OEM card of that era, providing basic connectivity for standard monitors. The absence of tensor and RT cores confirms this is a pure rasterization card with no forward-looking compute features. For any modern workload involving ray tracing or machine learning, the GT 220 OEM is functionally obsolete, and its API support caps it at older titles or those with legacy rendering paths.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals array in the FACT PACK is empty, meaning there are no direct comparison points provided for the GeForce GT 220 OEM. Without rival names, scores, or deltaPct values, a positional analysis against other GPUs cannot be constructed from the data at hand. The 50th percentile vs. all GPUs is the only relative metric available, and it lacks context—it does not specify which GPUs fall above or below, nor the distribution’s shape. The card’s predecessor is listed as GeForce 9 and its successor as GeForce 400, but no specific models are named, so no direct generational leap can be quantified. In the absence of rival data, the practical takeaway is that the GT 220 OEM sits in a vacuum: it is an entry-level part from a specific OEM context, likely intended for pre-built systems rather than retail enthusiasts. Its 48 shading units and 8 ROPs suggest it would trail even the lowest-end GeForce 400 series cards, but without numerical comparisons, that remains an inference from the architecture, not a measured result. The benchmark database offers no validation for claims of superiority or inferiority against any named competitor.

Power and Cooling

The GeForce GT 220 OEM has a thermal design power (TDP) of 58 W, which is low by any standard. The card’s power connectors are listed as “None,” meaning it draws all its power from the PCIe 2.0 x16 slot—no auxiliary 6-pin or 8-pin connectors are required. The suggested power supply rating is 250 W, which is a modest recommendation that aligns with the low TDP; a typical office or entry-level system PSU can handle this card without issue. The cooling solution is a single-slot design, as indicated by slotWidth, and the card’s physical length is 168 mm (6.6 inches), which fits comfortably in most cases, including compact OEM chassis. The 40 nm process node from TSMC contributes to the low power draw, and the absence of a power connector simplifies installation—no cable management or PSU upgrade is needed for users with a 250 W unit or better. The card’s bus interface is PCIe 2.0 x16, which is backward compatible with older PCIe slots, though bandwidth is capped by the interface’s generation. For a builder, this is a drop-in card with minimal power and thermal demands, suitable for systems with weak power supplies. The lack of a launch MSRP in the data means no pricing information is available, but the power profile suggests it was intended for low-cost, low-power OEM builds.

FAQ

Q: Does the GeForce GT 220 OEM support ray tracing?

A: No. The FACT PACK lists null values for both RT cores and tensor cores, indicating no dedicated hardware for ray tracing or AI-based features.

Q: What is the maximum DirectX version supported by this card?

A: The card supports DirectX 11.1, but with a caveat: the specification is listed as “11.1 (10_1),” meaning the hardware’s shader model is limited to DirectX 10.1 features.

Q: How much power does the card draw, and does it need a power connector?

A: The TDP is 58 W, and the card has no power connectors—it is entirely powered by the PCIe 2.0 x16 slot. A 250 W PSU is suggested.

Q: What memory configuration does the GT 220 OEM have?

A: It comes with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 22.40 GB/s, with a memory clock of 700 MHz (1400 Mbps effective).

Q: Is this card suitable for modern gaming?

A: No. The FP32 performance is 97.15 GFLOPS, and it lacks Vulkan support and full DirectX 11 hardware features, making it unsuitable for modern titles.

Q: What is the physical size and cooling requirement?

A: The card is 168 mm (6.6 inches) long, single-slot, with no auxiliary power connectors. It fits in most cases and requires minimal cooling.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem of the GeForce GT 220 OEM is a straightforward, low-bandwidth design. It features 512 MB of GDDR3 memory, which was a common capacity for entry-level cards at the time of its release. The memory bus width is 128 bit, and the memory clock runs at 700 MHz, resulting in an effective data rate of 1400 Mbps. This combination yields a total memory bandwidth of 22.40 GB/s. For context, this bandwidth is sufficient for 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolutions in older games with reduced texture quality, but it becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions like 1920x1080 or with high-resolution texture packs. The 512 MB capacity is also a limiting factor—modern games often require 2 GB or more just for basic assets, and even at the card’s launch, 512 MB was on the low end. The 128-bit bus width is narrower than the 256-bit buses found on higher-end cards, which further constrains data throughput. In practical terms, this memory subsystem is designed for 2D desktop use, video playback, and light 3D applications where texture sizes are small. The pixel rate of 4.048 GPixel/s and texture rate of 8.096 GTexel/s align with the memory bandwidth, indicating a balanced but severely capacity-limited design. For anyone considering this card for high-resolution gaming, the data shows a hard ceiling: the 22.40 GB/s bandwidth and 512 MB VRAM will cause stuttering, texture pop-in, and outright crashes in any modern workload that expects more than a fraction of a gigabyte of VRAM. The GDDR3 type is also slower than the GDDR5 that succeeded it, and the 40 nm process does not mitigate the memory’s inherent latency. Overall, the memory subsystem is adequate for legacy applications but is the primary component holding the card back from any serious performance role.