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ASUS GeForce GT 430 - Can You Really Play Games with Budget Cards?

By Kenny Yeo - 11 Oct 2010

Conclusion

A Non-impressive Update

As an entry-level card, the GeForce GT 430 is a decent offering from NVIDIA. But it neither impresses nor excites, and we find it hard to recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a serious upgrade.

In terms of performance, it is somewhere between the GeForce GT 240 and GT 220. And judging from our becnhmarks, the new GeForce GT 430 trailed the older GeForce GT 240 by a considerable margin, which we found surprising considering how the two of them are mostly comparable in terms of paper specifications.

Against the competition from ATI, the GeForce GT 430 was a match for the Radeon HD 5570, but lost out to the Radeon HD 5670. Hence, performance is certainly not one of the GeForce GT 430’s strong suits, but you’ll be happy to know that it’ll play games quite nicely if you keep your expectations reasonable (by that we mean keep your resolution and graphics settings low).

It’s the same story with HTPC-related features. Although the GeForce GT 430 supports 3D Blu-ray playback and HD audio bitstreaming, the older GeForce GT 240 can do the same, and it is faster to boot. It also loses out to ATI’s entry-level offerings, all of which comes with EyeFinity and can therefore drive up to three monitors simultaneously. It might not be suitable for surround gaming, but at least it can be used as a relatively inexpensive tool to increase screen real estate and productivity.

Although NVIDIA hasn’t fixed a specific launch price for the GeForce GT 430 and has left that decision to their partners, NVIDIA did say that it expects the GeForce GT 430 to retail around the US$79 mark, which again is between its two older siblings and comparable to the Radeon HD 5570. And based on its performance and feature set, there’s no compelling reason for anyone to get the GeForce GT 430 if you are already a GeForce GT 240 or Radeon HD 5570 user. However, as a card for someone building an entry-level rig or a HTPC system, the GeForce GT 430 fits the bill well.

And while it might be the first entry-level Fermi card for the masses, but enabling tessellation on such a low-powered card greatly affects performance, so that point about playing games with tessellation is moot really. Furthermore, 3D Blu-ray and HD audio bitstreaming are also supported by the older GeForce GT 240, so the GT 430 isn’t breaking new grounds here either.

In all, the GeForce GT 430 is a decent new offering, but comes recommended only if you have a are using an old basic card (such as the GeForce GT 220, Radeon HD 5450 and older products) or if you are stilling running off your motherboard's integrated graphics solution.

The GeForce GT 430 doesn't reinvent the market nor break new grounds. As such, it's only really suitable option if you are still using a really old basic card or an IGP solution.

As for the ASUS ENGT430, we think that its a reasonable implementation of the GeForce GT 430. It sports reference clock speeds, so it is no speed demon, but as a half-height card, it is compact and runs cool enough. On top of that, its a rather eager overclocker too. Pricing-wise, it comes in at S$139, which is right between most GeForce GT 240 and GT 220 cards and comparable to the Radeon HD 5570, so at least it's pretty decent.

As for the question of whether can you play games with entry-level, budget graphics cards, the answer is both yes and no. If you are willing to sacrifice on graphics quality and play at a lower resolution, then a basic card like the GeForce GT 430 is going to get you playable frame rates above 30fps. But this also means, losing out on a lot of graphics eye candy, which has become an integral part of today’s games. Imagine playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 with washed out explosions and lighting effects, the experience won’t be the same as opposed to playing it with full graphics settings enabled on a powerful system even though the frame rates might be identical. There are of course folks who are engrossed only in strategic online game play, and for this group of people, the ability to play a game comfortably is their utmost criteria over graphics quality.

For regular or hardcore gamers, there’s simply no substitute for a proper mid to high-end graphics card. However, for casual gamers using an IGP solution and do not care much for graphics eye candy or only want to run basic games and spend more time consuming media such as movies and photos, an entry-level graphics card is a worthy investment.

Final Ratings

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 SKU

The ASUS ENGT430 1GB GDDR3

 

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7.5
  • Performance 7.5
  • Features 7.5
  • Value 7
The Good
Compact size
Decent overclockability
Runs cool and quiet
The Bad
Reference clock speeds
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