X-bit labs

Contemporary Platforms with Integrated Graphics (page 5)

Category: Chipsets

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 12/08/2006 | 10:38 AM ]

Nvidia GeForce 6100

Nvidia GeForce 6100 is a slightly cut-down version of GeForce 6150. The main difference between this chipset and its elder brother is the lower graphics core frequency of only 425MHz. As a result, GeForce 6100 provides the fillrate of only 850Mpixels/s.

Moreover, GeForce 6100 has no support for hardware HD video decoding and DVI ports.

However, Nvidia made a few changes this fall that made GeForce 6100 even more different from the GeForce 6150 + nForce 430 combination. Nvidia started shipping new microchips aka MCP61G that are a combination of GeForce 6100 and nForce 430 inside a single semiconductor package. As a result, some product features have also become different. For example, MCP61G acquired more USB 2.0 ports (ten instead of eight), fewer Parallel ATA ports (only one) and a faster integrated network controller.

Of course, these are mostly minor changes. Especially, since the graphics core capabilities haven’t really changed compared with those of the original GeForce 6100 graphics core. However, the mainboard makers could now design simpler and hence less expensive integrated platforms for AMD Socket AM2.

By the way, Nvidia is also offering even cheaper modifications of a single-chip integrated MCP61G chipset (with lower graphics core speed and limited functionality). These solutions could be used for the lowest-end platforms that do not require high graphics core performance.

Chipsets Characteristics Comparison

* - Not for all mainboards
** - Supported by CPU memory controller
*** - Only with ICH7R or ICH8 South Bridge