Low-End GeForce 9 Confusion

So nVIDIA's got me confused - what is their low-end integrated and discrete parts? It's clear enough with Intel (X4500, or X3100 from the previous generation) and ATI (HD 3200 or HD 3100 for low-end), but nVIDIA...



What I do know is the 9100M G is integrated. And I think the 9200M GS is, but nVIDIA doesn't list it as a "motherboard GPU" on their page for it as they do for the 9100M G. And I'm pretty sure the 9300M GS is discrete. But what really made it confusing is the 9400M. Supposedly it's an integrated one being used in Apple's new notebooks. But I don't see how that makes sense.

Firstly, it's supposedly a combination of either the 9100 and 9200 or the 9200 and 9300 (can't remember which and Google searches for it got flooded with Apple news tidbits today). But if it's a combination of two other low-end chips, is it really integrated? Or is it merely less power-efficient than previous integrated ones?

Secondly, why would nVIDIA have an integrated part that's better than their low-end discrete part from the same generation? 9400 clearly implies better than 9300, but why would anyone buy the 9300 then if the 9400 was integrated and thus more efficient? If it's not as good as the 9300, why not call it 9250 similar to the 6-serie naming?

I knew nVIDIA had a confusing naming scheme and way too many models, but thought it would be the upper end that got really confusing. Then the 9400 came out, and all of a sudden nothing's clear on the low-end. If only nVIDIA had as straightforward a naming scheme as ATI.

 

The 9100M is an IGP, with no dedicated memory of its own. The Nvidia 9200M has 256MB of its own memory, plus whatever it can borrow from system RAM (although this method of using memory is horribly slow.

 

that doesnt really answer his question, and a lot of dedicated cards have their own memory and can also use extra from the system, but you're right about it not being the same as the dedicated memory, its just kinda there for show.

 

Sorry, what I really meant was discrete as in a seperate card not built into the motherboard, not dedicated as in having its own memory. Apologies for the unclear terminology. Though I'm not sure if it's possible to have a dedicated but not discrete card. However it is somewhat valuably to know that the 9200M is dedicated, though whether it's discrete (same for the 9300 and especially 9400) is what I'm really trying to figure out.

 

Fully comprehending nvidia's naming schemes is like trying to learn a classical language. It is going to be beneficial if we plainly ignore their nomenclatures and just look at their real time performances before deciding on one.

 

According to nvidia the 9100M is an IGP which means it doesn't have its own memory but have to share from the RAM. As far as I understand the 9200M and 9300M are discrete GPUs and have their own dedicate memory, separated from RAM (thats the difference between Integrated GPU (IGP) and discrete GPU). I haven't personally seen them but I don't think there are MXM cards though, you will not be able to upgrade your graphic card. The 9200M and 9300M GPUs with their own memory chips might be shouldered on the motherboard like it used to be before the MXM cards (remember the GeForce FX series which they had dedicate memory and the GPU was on the motherboard). Discrete GPU doesn't mean its separated from the motherboard but that it has dedicate memory. It looks like both of them are coming in conjuction with the 9100M IGP and they work in SLI mode giving more power (GeforceBoost). So far the 9300M GS or G is giving at 3dmark06 (1024x768) around 2000 points where the 9200M G around 1200. So they are like the 8400M GT or G, I guess, maybe more powerful. You can check here for more info and comparison at this site

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9300M-GS.9452.0.html

The 9400M GPU apparently is the combination of the 9100M and 9300M GS or 9200M GS, it has both an IGP (which is also the chipset) and a GPU.
But I totally agree with you, nvidia's system for naming the GPUs is awful, and they are thinking of changing again to GTX100s without changing the GPUs.
I hope that helps