NVIDIA ION 2

NVIDIA ION 2

The Nvidia ION 2 (GT218-ION-A3 / GT218-ILV-A3) is a dedicated graphics card for the new Pinetrail Atom CPUs (e.g., N450, D510, D410 announced Dec 2009) Generation. The ION2 is based on the GT218 chip (GeForce 305M, 310M) with dedicated memory (compared to the old ION that was a chipset graphics card). Because of the limitations of the Pinetrail chipset, it can only be connected with PCIe 1x. Therefore, the performance of the chip is slower than a similar GeForce G210M e.g.

The ION 2 comes in three versions, that differ in core speed and shader cores.

10" Netbook ION

The ION chip in 10" netbooks with Pinetrail Atoms offers only 8 shader cores and a clock rate of 405 MHz. According to Nvidia the performance should still be similar to the first generation of ION. The power consumption of 6 Watt is rather low, and therefore fully suited for small netbooks.

12" Netbook ION

The 12" version features all 16 cores of the GT218 chip and is clocked at 475 MHz. The performance should be above the old ION platform.

Desktop & Netbook ION

The desktop version is clocked even higher at 535 MHz as no power restrictions have to be met.

 

First benchmarks by netbooknews.de on a pre-sample of the Acer Aspire 532g with the 8-shader-core version resulted in about 3000 points in 3DMark03. That would be noticeably slower than a ION 1 netbook. The relative low result can be explained by the early sample and the PCIe 1x bus. Still, compared to a GMA 3150 the performance is a lot better. 

As the integrated GMA 3150 graphics in the Atom CPU is quite limited (slow 3D performance, no HD video acceleration, no digital monitor output), the ION 2 is intended to adress these weak points. It offers a better 3D performance, (digital) monitor outputs (HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, and VGA), video acceleration with PureVideo HD (since Flash 10.1 also for Internet Videos in HD) and CUDA for using the computing power of the GPU.

The netbook ION 2 versions also supports Optimus to automatically switch between the dedicated (ION) and integrated (GMA 3150) graphics card. Therefore the battery runtime without GPU load should be equal to a non ION netbook. The HDMI port however always triggers the use of the ION card, as the port cant be used with the GMA 3150.

The power consumption of 6-12 Watt TDP is quite high for an Atom system, but the ION 2 should be switchable (with the integrated GMA 3150) which still can lead to high battery runtimes.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
ION Series

ION 2 16@405 / 475 / 535MHz

CodenameGT218-ION-A3, GT218-ILV-A3
Pipelines16 - unified
Core Speed *405 / 475 / 535 MHz
Shader Speed *? / 1100 / ? MHz
Memory Speed *790 MHz
Memory Bus Width64 Bit
Memory TypeDDR2, DDR3
Max. Amount of Memory512 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 10.1, Shader 4.1
Current Consumption6/12 Watt
technology40 nm
Date of Announcement10.01.2010
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://www.nvidia.com/object/sff_ion.html
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark 2001SE - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 5470     avg: 5857.8 (10%)     max: 6882 Points
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 3362     avg: 5342 (5%)     max: 6569 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 2227     avg: 3384.8 (10%)     max: 3961 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 1155     avg: 2042.4 (8%)     max: 2699 Points
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 1267     avg: 1585 (7%)     max: 1752 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 326     avg: 971.6 (9%)     max: 1266 Points
3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 696     avg: 715 (2%)     max: 725 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 600     avg: 621.7 (2%)     max: 664 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 3.2     avg: 3.5 (45%)     max: 4.7 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 3.7     avg: 4.4 (55%)     max: 5.6 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.

StarCraft 2
StarCraft 2 (2010)
low:
25.3  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
CoD Modern Warfare 2
CoD Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
low:
12.4  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Risen (2009): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
Anno 1404
Anno 1404 (2009)
low:
13 31 ~ 22 fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Sims 3
Sims 3 (2009)
low:
23 42.7 57 ~ 41 fps      Compare
med.:
16 26.5 29 ~ 24 fps      Compare
» With most 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:
25.2  fps      Compare
high:
22.5  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Far Cry 2 (2008): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
Trackmania Nations Forever
Trackmania Nations Forever (2008)
low:
26 33.4 ~ 30 fps      Compare
high:
9.8 15 ~ 12 fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (2007): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings low. - more...
Crysis - GPU Benchmark
Crysis - GPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
17  fps      Compare
med.:
9.6  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Crysis - CPU Benchmark
Crysis - CPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
19  fps      Compare
med.:
9.5  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
World in Conflict - Benchmark
World in Conflict - Benchmark (2007)
low:
23  fps      Compare
med.:
5  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Command and Conquer III (2007): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
Call of Juarez Benchmark
Call of Juarez Benchmark (2006)
high:
4.1  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark (2005)
high:
30.7  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
F.E.A.R. (2005): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings med.. - more...
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft (2005)
low:
44 48.6 ~ 46 fps      Compare
med.:
24.4 27 ~ 26 fps      Compare
high:
11.6  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
Counter-Strike Source
Counter-Strike Source (2004)
low:
25.8  fps      Compare
high:
21.7  fps      Compare
» The benchmarks indicate that the game is not playable in the tested settings.
Doom 3 (2004): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings ultra. - more...

For more games that might be playable and a list of all games and graphics cards visit our Gaming List

Notebook reviews with NVIDIA ION 2 graphics card

Asus Eee PC 1015PN (Intel Atom N550, 10.1")
» Review Asus Eee PC 1015PN Netbook - Review
» Asus Eee PC 1015PN - External Review

Asus Eee PC 1201PN (Intel Atom N450, 12.1")
» Nvidia Next-Generation ION (ION2) in review - Review
» Asus Eee PC 1201PN - External Review

Asus Eee PC 1215N (Intel Atom D525, 12.1")
» Review Asus Eee PC 1215N Netbook - Review
» Asus Eee PC 1215N - External Review

Asus Lamborghini VX6 (Intel Atom D525, 12.1")
» Review Asus Lamborghini VX6 Netbook - Review
» Asus Lamborghini VX6 - External Review

Asus Lamborghini VX6-BLK063M (Intel Atom D525, 12.2")
» Asus Lamborghini VX6-BLK063M - External Review

» Comparison of GPUs
Detailled list of all laptop GPUs with a short description. Classified and sorted by performance.

» Benchmark List
Sortable and restrainable list of all GPUs with benchmarks (e.g. 3DMarks).

» Notebook Gaming List
Which game can be played with my graphics card.

Class 1
GeForce GTX 590
GeForce GTX 580
Radeon HD 6970
GeForce GTX 570
GeForce GTX 480
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Radeon HD 6870
GeForce GTX 470
Radeon HD 5850
GeForce GTX 460 768MB
Radeon HD 6790
Radeon HD 5770
GeForce GTX 550 Ti
GeForce GTS 450
Radeon HD 4850
Radeon HD 5670
Class 2
GeForce GT 240
GeForce GT 430
Radeon HD 7590M *
Radeon HD 5570
Radeon HD 7650M
Radeon HD 6550D *
GeForce GT 220
Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5
Class 3
Radeon HD 4350
GeForce G 107M *
Chrome9HD *
Class 4
Class 5
Class 6
SGX543MP2 *
Mali-400 MP *
PowerVR SGX540 *
PowerVR SGX535
unknown *

* Approximate position of the graphics adapter

> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > FAQ / Tips / Technics > Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards > NVIDIA ION 2
Author: Klaus Hinum (Update: 2012-01-25)