Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 2GB Review

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Battlefield 1 (DirectX 12)

In our AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB Review, we tested Battlefield 1 at the game’s Low quality preset in the hope of making 1920x1080 playable. And we did, more or less. But the graphics look so bad down there that we decided to start testing at 1280x720 this time around using Medium detail.

Despite the higher quality, dropping to a lower resolution results in more frames per second, on average. Good thing, too. Although GeForce GT 1030’s GPU sports a base clock rate of 1227 MHz and a typical GPU Boost frequency of 1468 MHz, its 384 CUDA cores, 24 texture units, and 64-bit memory interface fall short of GTX 750 Ti’s 640 CUDA cores, 40 texture units, and 128-bit memory bus. In this game, at least, Nvidia’s latest only beats Intel’s on-die HD Graphics 530.

Jumping up to 1920x 1080 has the anticipated effect of cutting into performance and graphics quality, causing lots of popping and shimmering on barbed wire, especially.

Although it’s redeeming that GeForce GT 1030 achieves a higher minimum frame rate than GTX 750 Ti, it again posts a lower average frame rate than the 2014-era mid-range card. Disappointing also is that AMD’s Radeon RX 550 is almost 24% faster; we were expecting a tighter race between the two cards. But it goes to show how well the Graphics Core Next architecture handles DX12-based gaming, even on a lower-end platform.


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Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
  • turkey3_scratch
    This is a fantastic chip! Seeing as it performs nearly on-par with the 750Ti, it has approximately double the performance/power ratio. It is also perfect for a noiseless PC, the passively cooled one is.
    Reply
  • takeshi7
    Does this card work with 4K Netflix? From what I've read Nvidia requires 3GB VRAM for it which seems stupid and arbitrary. 2GB is enough to buffer several seconds of 4K movie frames.
    Reply
  • King_V
    Definitely interesting. Going through the initial tests, I actually started wondering why the RX550 was lower in the hierarchy charts than the 750Ti.

    Then, when they switched positions in some other tests, it became more clear. And, I concluded that even putting certain cards in tiers relative to each other is not that easy.

    I was very glad to see this test, though, as I'd previously considered getting the GT1030. My need for it is no longer there.

    Overall, I think the 750Ti, RX 550, and RX 460 are closer to each other than I anticipated. It does seem the 1030 is behind them all, but not too far behind.

    Thanks for this review. I can't wait to see where it ultimately falls in the hierarchy chart(which, oddly, is missing the RX 560 but I suspect that is in the same tier as the RX 460)
    Reply
  • Boom_4
    TAKESHI7
    yes it's enough, IDK where you heard that you need 3gb or VRAM.
    Reply
  • hendriksnyder
    Will this work with a core I7 7700k? And would it be able to run games like FO4 and TitanFall 2 on ultra settings?
    Reply
  • takeshi7
    19934708 said:
    TAKESHI7
    yes it's enough, IDK where you heard that you need 3gb or VRAM.

    Multiple sources say you need 3GB VRAM
    http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4457/~/preview-of-4k-uhd-netflix-content-on-nvidia-gpus
    http://www.pcworld.com/article/3193566/components-graphics/nvidia-quietly-opens-4k-netflix-streaming-on-geforce-gtx-10-series-graphics-cards.html

    It's pretty stupid because that means you have to spend twice as much to get a 1050 Ti minimum.

    Reply
  • zcat
    Can't wait to swap out my miniITX's old 750Ti with a true successor that's twice as powerful at the same bus-powered max of 60W.
    Reply
  • mikegrok
    I am going to be installing a bunch of these into a dental office as soon as stocks get better. Dental offices have 2 monitors per computer (usually using the gti 720). One for work, and one to show Netflix, and distract the patients. The computers have CPUs that don't accelerate h265, and the 1000 series nvidia GPUs accelerate the current video codecs.
    Reply
  • Kuo Ping
    got this card for months and really love it for LOL.
    Reply
  • caamsa
    Wow things must be slow in the world of computer hardware.
    Reply