GeForce GT 430: The HTPC Crowd Gets Fermi On A Diet

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After addressing mainstream gamers with the GF106-based GeForce GTS 450, Nvidia is nudging a new GPU into the desktop space, built onto a card seemingly tailor-made for HTPCs. Does the new $79 GeForce GT 430 taste great, or is it just less filling?

Test Setup And Benchmarks

The cards we chose for comparison can all be found within $5 of the GeForce GT 430’s MSRP of $79, including the GeForce GT 220 DDR3, the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, the Radeon HD 5570 DDR3, and the Radeon HD 5670 GDDR5.

To better represent a level playing field (and to address some of the concerns we've seen in the comments section), all of these cards have been set to reference clock rates for testing.

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Test System
MotherboardAsus M4A785TD-V EVO Socket AM3, AMD 785G, BIOS 0410
ProcessorPhenom II X4 970 3.5 GHz, Quad-Core, 6 MB L3 CacheOverclocked to 4.0 GHz
CPU CoolerCooler Master Hyper TX3
MemoryCrucial DDR3-1333 Dual-Channel 2 x 2048 MB, 669 MHz, CAS 9-9-9-24-1T
GraphicsGigabyte GV-N220OC-1GI (GeForce GT 220) 1 GB DDR3, 720/1566 MHz GPU/Shaders, 800 MHz MemoryAsus ENGT430 (GeForce GT 430) 1 GB DDR3, 700/1400 MHz GPU/Shaders, 800 MHz MemoryGigabyte GV-N240D5-512I (GeForce GT 240) 512 MB GDDR5, 550/1340 MHz GPU/Shaders, 850  MHz MemoryRadeon HD 5570 Reference 1 GB DDR3, 650 MHz GPU, 900 MHz MemoryRadeon HD 5670 Reference 512 MB GDDR5, 775 MHz GPU, 1000 MHz Memory***all clock rates set to reference specifications for the purposes of benchmarking***
Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar Black 1000 MB 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache SATA 3Gb/s
Software and Drivers
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 7 x64
DirectX VersionDirectX 11
Graphics DriversAMD Catalyst 10.9, GeForce 260.77 beta (GeForce GT 430), GeForce 258.96 (all others)
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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
CrysisPatch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool General Benchmarks: Low Quality, Textures, Shadows, Physics, Shaders, Water, and Sound to MediumAnti-aliasing Benchmarks: Low Quality, Textures, Physics, Water, and Sound to Medium, Shaders to High
Just Cause 2Version 1.0.0.2, in-game benchmark,Low Settings, Shadows and Water to Medium, No AA, 2x AF
Aliens vs PredatorBenchmark Tool, Medium Settings, SSAO Off, Dx11 tesselation and shadow sampling off, no AA, 8x AF
StarCraft IIVersion 1.1.1, Custom Tom's Hardware BenchmarkHigh Quality Preset, No AA
DiRT 2In-game benchmarkDirectX 11, High Quality Preset, No AA
Synthetic
3DMark VantageVersion: 1.01, Total System score
Don Woligroski
Contributor

Don Woligroski was a former senior hardware editor for Tom's Hardware. He has covered a wide range of PC hardware topics, including CPUs, GPUs, system building, and emerging technologies.