NVIDIA Quadro4 200 NVS

The NVIDIA Quadro4 200 NVS is a professional graphics card built on the Celsius architecture, using the NV17 chip fabricated by TSMC on a 150 nm process. The database lists no benchmark scores for this card, yet it holds a 50th percentile position among all GPUs, indicating a median standing in the overall performance distribution. This analysis draws exclusively on the supplied technical specifications to interpret its capabilities and limitations.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark database contains no recorded scores for the Quadro4 200 NVS; the `benchmarks` array is empty and the average benchmark score is 0. Consequently, direct performance comparisons against other cards cannot be quantified. However, the card’s percentile rank of 50 places it exactly at the midpoint of all GPUs in the database—meaning half of the recorded GPUs are above it and half below. This is a neutral position, consistent with a card that was neither a high-end performer nor a bottom-tier option in its era.

Without synthetic scores, the hardware specifications offer the only basis for performance estimation. The card integrates 4 texture mapping units (TMUs) and 2 raster output units (ROPs), producing a pixel rate of 500.0 MPixel/s and a texture rate of 1.000 GTexel/s. These fillrate figures are modest by any modern standard, but they align with the card’s early-2000s release context. The pixel rate suggests the card can fill 500 million pixels per second, while the texture rate implies it can process 1 billion texels per second. In practical terms, these numbers would support basic 2D desktop acceleration and light 3D workloads at moderate resolutions, but they would quickly become a bottleneck for high-polygon scenes or high-resolution textures.

The absence of benchmark data also means the 50th percentile ranking cannot be cross-referenced with specific rival scores. The card’s performance class is best understood through its fillrate and memory capabilities, which are discussed below. The lack of a `fp32` or `fp16` figure further limits quantitative analysis; the card’s compute throughput is not specified, and it likely predates unified shader architectures. Overall, the Quadro4 200 NVS appears positioned as a low-power, entry-level professional solution rather than a performance-oriented GPU.

Memory Subsystem

The Quadro4 200 NVS is equipped with 64 MB of DDR memory, connected via a 128-bit bus. The memory clock is 250 MHz, yielding an effective data rate of 500 Mbps per pin, and the total bandwidth is 8.000 GB/s. This configuration was typical for mid-range cards in 2003, but it is severely limited by today’s standards. The 64 MB capacity is particularly restrictive for high-resolution framebuffers; for example, a 1920x1080 32-bit color buffer alone would consume over 8 MB, leaving little room for textures and geometry data. As a result, the card is unlikely to handle modern high-resolution workloads without significant swapping or reduced visual quality.

The 128-bit bus width provides a reasonable memory interface for the era, and the 8.000 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the card’s fillrate—the pixel rate of 500 MPixel/s would require only 4 GB/s if each pixel accessed 8 bytes, leaving headroom. However, the effective bandwidth is still low compared to later cards, and the 64 MB capacity is the primary constraint. For high-resolution rendering, the card would be limited to lower resolutions or reduced color depths. The memory type is DDR (Double Data Rate), which was an improvement over SDRAM, but the 250 MHz clock is modest. The card’s memory subsystem is therefore best suited for 2D professional applications (e.g., CAD, spreadsheets, multi-display setups) rather than intensive 3D rendering at high resolutions.

Power and Cooling

The Quadro4 200 NVS has a thermal design power (TDP) of just 11 W, which is exceptionally low even for its time. This low power draw allows the card to be passively cooled in many cases, and it requires no auxiliary power connectors—the `powerConnectors` field is explicitly listed as "None." The suggested power supply unit (PSU) rating is 200 W, which is a modest requirement that any standard desktop PSU from the early 2000s could meet. The card occupies a single slot, with a length of 168 mm (6.6 inches), making it compatible with most chassis.

The low TDP and lack of power connectors indicate that the card is designed for office or workstation environments where power efficiency and low heat output are priorities. The 11 W figure also means that the card can be installed in systems with limited cooling airflow, and it does not place any strain on the power supply’s +12V rail. The 200 W suggested PSU is a conservative recommendation, likely accounting for the rest of the system’s components. In practice, a system with this card would consume far less than 200 W, but the recommendation provides a safe margin. The single-slot design and short length further simplify installation, and the absence of a cooling fan (implied by the low TDP, though not explicitly stated) would contribute to silent operation.

How It Compares

The database lists no nearest rivals for the Quadro4 200 NVS; the `nearestRivals` array is empty. Therefore, direct percentage deltas against competing GPUs cannot be provided. The card’s 50th percentile rank is the only comparative metric available. This percentile places it at the median of all GPUs in the database, meaning that an equal number of cards are above and below it. Without rival names or scores, it is impossible to say which specific cards it outperforms or falls behind.

Given the lack of rival data, the comparison must rely on the card’s absolute specifications. Its 64 MB memory and 8.000 GB/s bandwidth are far below the multi-gigabyte capacities and hundreds of GB/s bandwidths of modern GPUs, but such comparisons are anachronistic. Within its own generation, the card would have been positioned as a low-cost, low-power option, likely competing with other entry-level Quadro variants or mainstream GeForce cards of similar vintage. However, the absence of rival entries in the database precludes any quantitative comparison. The 50th percentile suggests that, among all GPUs ever cataloged, the Quadro4 200 NVS sits exactly in the middle—a reflection of its modest capabilities relative to the entire historical spectrum, rather than a comment on its standing among contemporaries.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Quadro4 200 NVS predates hardware ray tracing by more than a decade; the fact pack lists no RT cores and no tensor cores. The card’s architecture, Celsius, is based on the NV17 chip, which was designed for the DirectX 7.0 era. The supported APIs are DirectX 7.0 and OpenGL 1.5; no Vulkan support is listed. This means the card cannot accelerate ray-traced effects or machine learning workloads that rely on tensor cores. Its feature set is limited to fixed-function pipeline operations typical of early 2000s GPUs.

The lack of RT and tensor cores is expected for a card released in December 2003. DirectX 7.0 introduced hardware transform and lighting (T&L), but it does not support shader models beyond pixel shader 1.1 and vertex shader 1.1. OpenGL 1.5 added features like vertex buffer objects and occlusion queries, but it lacks modern compute shaders. Consequently, the Quadro4 200 NVS cannot run contemporary graphics APIs such as Vulkan or DirectX 12, and it is not suitable for modern gaming or GPU-accelerated computing. Its intended use case was likely professional 2D applications, multi-display setups (via the single LFH60 output, which can be split to dual DVI or VGA via a dongle, though that is not specified), and basic 3D CAD with legacy software.

The card’s feature set is minimal: 4 TMUs, 2 ROPs, and no unified shaders. The pixel rate and texture rate figures are the only compute indicators, and they are far below what any modern application expects. The absence of Vulkan support further cements its status as a legacy product. For any ray tracing or tensor-based workload, the card is completely inadequate; its architecture simply does not include the necessary hardware. Thus, the Quadro4 200 NVS is best viewed as a historical artifact rather than a functional GPU for current tasks.

FAQ

Q: What is the memory size of the NVIDIA Quadro4 200 NVS?

A: The card has 64 MB of DDR memory.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth?

A: The memory bandwidth is 8.000 GB/s, achieved via a 128-bit bus and a 250 MHz memory clock (500 Mbps effective).

Q: What is the thermal design power (TDP)?

A: The TDP is 11 W, and the card requires no auxiliary power connectors.

Q: What is the recommended power supply wattage?

A: The suggested PSU is 200 W.

Q: What APIs does the card support?

A: It supports DirectX 7.0 and OpenGL 1.5; Vulkan is not supported.

Q: What is the production status of this card?

A: The production status is listed as "End-of-life," with a release date of December 21, 2003.

Q: Does the card support ray tracing?

A: No, the card has no RT cores and no tensor cores, and its API support predates ray tracing.