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NVIDIA GeForce 310M

NVIDIA GeForce 310M

The Nvidia GeForce 310M is an entry level laptop graphics card and the successor of the G 210M and therefore based on the same GT218 core with very similar clock rates (shader speed +30MHz). However, there are also newer versions that are clocked at 606 MHz and therefore slightly slower. Nvidia states that the raw performance is 73 Gigaflops compared to the 72 Gigaflops of the G210M. Therefore, the 310M is an entry level dedicated graphics card for small laptops.

The performance of the 310M is similar to the GeForce G 210M and therefore located in the entry level class. Modern 3D games like COD Modern Warfare 2 run only in low details and resolutions fluently. Some demanding games like NFS Shift or GTA4 wont run fluently at all. Less demanding games like SIMS 3 run in medium details and resolutions fluently. Therefore, the graphics card can not be recommended for gamers.

The card supports DirectX 10.1 and all the features of the G 210M (as it should be based on the same GT218 core). Therefore PureVideo HD to decode HD videos with the graphics card is supported. The used Video Processor 4 (VP4) is able to fully decode H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, and also MPEG-4 ASP (DivX or xVID) in hardware to minimize CPU load. MPEG-1 is not supported but can be easily handled by every modern CPU.

As the 310M supports CUDA, DirectX Compute 10.1, and OpenCL, the shaders of the graphics processor can be used for other tasks than rendering images (e.g. faster encoding of videos).

The used GT218 core is manufactured in 40nm and based on the desktop GTX 200 architecture. Therefore, the shaders have been reworked compared to the old GeForce G110M for an improved performance and battery runtime.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce 300M Series

GeForce 320M 32@450MHz

GeForce 310M 16@606 / 625MHz

GeForce 315M 16@606MHz

GeForce 305M 16@525MHz

CodenameN11M-GE1
ArchitectureGT2xx
Pipelines16 - unified
Core Speed *606 / 625 MHz
Shader Speed *1212 / 1530 MHz
Memory Speed *800 MHz
Memory Bus Width64 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR3, DDR3
Max. Amount of Memory512 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 10.1, Shader 4.1
Transistors260 Million
technology40 nm
FeaturesDirectX Compute Support (Windows 7), CUDA, OpenCL, OpenGL 2.1, HybridPower
Date of Announcement10.01.2010
Information73 Gigaflops
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://www.nvidia.com/object/product_gef...
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 1012     avg: 1106.3 (3%)     max: 1177 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 787     avg: 867.9 (2%)     max: 920 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 2907     avg: 3346.2 (11%)     max: 3895 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 5909     avg: 6661.7 (18%)     max: 7207 Points
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 8643     avg: 9628 (6%)     max: 10702 Points
3DMark 2001SE - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 9678     avg: 16667 (27%)     max: 23157 Points
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 7     avg: 7 (5%)     max: 7 fps
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 2226     avg: 3516.1 (13%)     max: 4261 Points
SPECviewperf 11 - Catia 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 3.32     avg: 3.3 (5%)     max: 3.32 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Ensight 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 6.48     avg: 6.5 (11%)     max: 6.48 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Lightwave 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 8.02     avg: 8 (10%)     max: 8.02 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 5.06     avg: 5.1 (5%)     max: 5.06 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Pro/ENGINEER 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 1.06     avg: 1.1 (6%)     max: 1.06 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - SolidWorks 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 6.48     avg: 6.5 (10%)     max: 6.48 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Tcvis 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 1     avg: 1 (2%)     max: 1 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Siemens NX 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 3.39     avg: 3.4 (5%)     max: 3.39 fps
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 7.46     avg: 8.1 (9%)     max: 8.6 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 967     avg: 3019.2 (28%)     max: 4428 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 3.3     avg: 4.4 (56%)     max: 5 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 5.2     avg: 5.7 (72%)     max: 6.1 points
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailled information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
low:
31.6  fps      Compare
med.:
22.1  fps      Compare
high:
20  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Fifa 11
Fifa 11 (2010)
low:
158  fps      Compare
med.:
71.5  fps      Compare
high:
53.4  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Civilization 5 (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
StarCraft 2
StarCraft 2 (2010)
low:
55 67.1 77 102.5 109.7 ~ 82 fps      Compare
med.:
15 18 19.1 19.2 26 ~ 19 fps      Compare
high:
10 12.1 12.6 12.7 ~ 12 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
CoD Modern Warfare 2
low:
48.3  fps      Compare
med.:
17.7  fps      Compare
high:
14.6  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Risen
Risen (2009)
low:
25.9 25.9 31.2 ~ 28 fps      Compare
med.:
14.3 14.8 14.8 ~ 15 fps      Compare
high:
8.9 8.9 9.8 ~ 9 fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 (2009)
high:
22  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Need for Speed Shift
Need for Speed Shift (2009)
low:
22.4 23.8 ~ 23 fps      Compare
med.:
13.7 15.7 ~ 15 fps      Compare
high:
8.3 12.1 ~ 10 fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2
Colin McRae: DIRT 2 (2009)
low:
24.8 25.2 29 ~ 26 fps      Compare
med.:
17.4 17.7 25 ~ 20 fps      Compare
high:
12.5 12.5 ~ 13 fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Anno 1404
Anno 1404 (2009)
low:
52 89.4 ~ 71 fps      Compare
ultra:
10.6 10.8 ~ 11 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Sims 3
Sims 3 (2009)
low:
78.1  fps      Compare
med.:
33  fps      Compare
high:
17.3  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
F.E.A.R. 2 (2009): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings low. - more...
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead (2008)
low:
60.1  fps      Compare
high:
40.5 44.2 ~ 42 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 (2008)
low:
58.8 62 ~ 60 fps      Compare
high:
19.9 20.3 ~ 20 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Crysis Warhead
Crysis Warhead (2008)
low:
48  fps      Compare
ultra:
6  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Racedriver: GRID (2008): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings low. - more...
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (2007)
low:
38.7 40.4 ~ 40 fps      Compare