NVIDIA GeForce 320M vs NVIDIA GeForce 310M

NVIDIA GeForce 320M

The NVIDIA GeForce 320M is an integrated chipset graphics card for Core 2 Duo based laptops and successor of the GeForce 9400M. It does not feature dedicated graphics memory but uses the systems main memory instead (shared memory, in Mac OS X 256 MB from the main memory). Therefore, the performance is not as good as similar cards with dedicated graphics RAM. The mGPU is based on the GT216 core (as the GeForce GT 325M e.g.) and offers 32 shader cores. The similar called GeForce GT 320M is a dedicated graphics card and a bit faster than the Geforce 320M.

The gaming performance of the GeForce 320M should be compareable to a GeForce 310M and even better. Therefore, older and less demanding games should run in high details fluently. Modern and demanding games like Crysis or NFS Shift should only run in low detail settings.

The 320M also supports PureVideo HD (VP4) to decode HD videos with the GPU. Using CUDA, OpenCL, and DirectCompute the shaders of the GPU can also be used for other calculations (like encoding videos).

The GeForce 320M is not similar to the GeForce GT 320M, which is based on a GeForce 9600M GT.

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.