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When testing the GT430, we feel it is important to have a system which an enthusiast might use in this specific sector. We are using the Core i5 760 quad core as the foundation of our system build. We have connected the system to a Panasonic 42inch 1080p Plasma TV and will run most of the tests at 720p today (1280×720) to tie in with the potential audience.
We only received the card a few days ago so we are focusing on comparing directly to the best AMD product at this specific price point (around £65).
Test System:
Zotac GT430 1GB
Comparison card:
Sapphire HD5670 512mb (reference 775mhz Core 4000mhz GDDR5)
System:
Processor: Intel Core i5 760
Memory: Corsair 4GB DDR3 @ 1600mhz
Motherboard: ASRock P55 Extreme4
Cooler: Thermaltake Frio Cooler
Chassis: Bitfennix Colossus
Power Supply: ThermalTake ToughPower XT 775W PSU
Monitor: Panasonic 42inch NeoPDP Plasma 600hz 1080P TV
Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Stone Giant
3DMark Vantage
HQV Benchmark
Catalyst 10.9 Driver
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
Forceware 260.77 beta
Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Keithley Integra unit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter
Games:
Resident Evil 5
Lost Planet 2
Far Cry 2
Mafia 2
Tom Clancy H.A.W.X.
Left4Dead 2
All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests all games across five closely matched runs and average out the results to get an accurate median figure.
Our minimum frame rate game graphs have three main zones. These are sampled over a specific 30 interval period of time and then mapped into a chart. These are handy reference guides to detail worst case performance of the product being reviewed. When we test video cards we try to find the best combination of resolution and image quality settings while still maintaining playable frame rates.
Over 30fps is the zone most people want at all times, this means perfectly smooth frame rates with no hitching.
Between 30fps and 25fps is the KitGuru ‘Playable’ zone, although some people might notice occasional stuttering in specific scenes.
Under 25fps is classed as the KitGuru ‘Danger Zone’ which means that the game experience will be less than impressive. Settings and/or resolution would need lowered to help smooth out the frame rate.
ekk, same price as a HD5670, thats a bit of a mess.
Disaster, the card doesnt seem to have much going for it, certainly not at that price.
Why not make it passively cooled and the same price as a HD5500 series card? like 40 quid.
Very highly overpriced. as a media card it seems decent as the HQV testing shows, but again the HD5670 is better. Dont think it has anything really to sell it. price needs to be 40-50 quid.
They all need to passively cooled and under £50. not sure what they are thinking. performance is very poor.
Very honest, and I like to see KG not hiding behind some silly comments. its a poor board. GTX460 seems to be the only no brainer this time around.
Well this is very open. I am a bit sick seeing 9/10s on this site, I doubt this review will make you popular with nvidia fans, but It is a tough card to recommend. I think even the 5570 si a better card. at least its passively cooled too !
I have read this and there was certainly no quarter drawn 🙂
It isn’t a poor card, power consumption is good and noise levels are decent.
My points are this and its been said before.
1: price needs to put it into the RIGHT CATEGORY! £45 inc vat
2: passively cooled, all solutions (or see point 3)
3: non passive cooled solutions need the clocks raised much higher to help with gaming.
I know people say its a ‘media card’ but come on, even people who are media fanatics, still play the odd title at 720p. this card even struggles at that, which is acceptable for 45 quid, not 65. HD5670 is a decent media gaming card, so this has to be as well, or else the price has to change. fact.
10/10 review. dig the honesty. product sucks. There are loads of cards in this price sector which deliver better performance. point proven today.
Maybe they can;t drop the price more, but this is destined to fail. loads of threads up across the net already. its only decent for encoding some files. but very few media people care less with even powerful low end CPU’s today.
Well this article is useless as it it compares against the wrong ATI graphics card…
The Nvidia GT430 is priced at about $79 (£51) and so competes with the ATI 5550 which would look much more interesting, and a Best buy rating !
bollocks.
This is the common pricing online. learn to count http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-239-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1863
JCB has been on the LSD 🙂
The whole point of this article is that the 430 SHOULD be £sub 50 but its £65-70!
Might be cheaper in america but it sure as shit aint in the UK.
Maybe if I got a flight to New York, it might work out at £50, but id need to get a flight for £3 before it would be worth my time.
All the prices today in the UK are 65 to 75 quid in the uk. ive not seen any decent makes for close to 50 quid. at 70 quid for the asus card, thats 5 less than a 1gb HD5670 ! well worth a 6 month wait for this crap.
i wait for the nexgenartion cards