As it continues to work on next-generation graphics processor for the high end, Nvidia is also refreshing the mainstream portion of its product line. A pair of low-end 40-nm GeForce 200 GPUs targeted at pre-built PCs first appeared on Nvidia's website in July before hitting retailers in October. This morning, the company introduced the GeForce GT 240, a slightly more powerful card that also carries a modest, sub-$100 price tag.

The GeForce GT 240 has a 40-nm DirectX 10.1 GPU, just like the GeForce GT 220 and G210, but it also features 96 stream processors, a 550MHz core clock speed, a 1340MHz shader speed, a 128-bit memory interface, and either 512MB or 1GB of memory. That memory can be either 850MHz GDDR5 (i.e. 3400MT/s, or total memory bandwidth of 54.4GB/s) or slower, 1000MHz DDR3. The card draws 70W under load.

Nvidia says the GT 240 lies between the GT 220 and GeForce 9800 GT in terms of pricing and performance alike. Here's how the three cards' best stock configurations match up:

 

Model SPs Core clock Shader clock Mem. clock Memory Mem. bus GeForce 9800 GT 112 600MHz 1500MHz 900MHz 512MB GDDR3 256-bit GeForce GT 240 96 550MHz 1340MHz 850MHz 1GB GDDR5 128-bit GeForce GT 220 48 625MHz 1360MHz 790MHz 1GB DDR3 128-bit

 

The GeForce GT 220 also has lower-end models with less, slower memory, though. As always, you can expect card vendors to take Nvidia's recommendations with respect to clock speeds quite liberally.

Already, a number of GeForce GT 240 cards with different arrangements of clock speeds, memory capacities, and memory types have found their way onto Newegg. Three of the five cards are priced a little above $100, while the cheapest model will only set you back $89.99. The one closest to Nvidia's MSRP features 512MB of GDDR5 RAM and clocks slightly above stock speeds.