I know this card is not the best, being a low end model, but it is a lot better than the old 512mb Winfast 8500GT I currently have in my HTPC - as well as having the HDMI 1.3.

I'm going from 16 core processors to 96, in a card that measures a mere 6 inches.

It is all relative. This card isn't designed for top end gaming. It is good enough to use with a decent CPU and 2-4Gb of RAM in a Home Theatre PC to watch DVDs or Bluerays and play a few of the not so graphics hungry games.

I've ordered one of these 1024Mb Golden Sample cards as I own a single PCI-e motherboard.

I also own 2 x BFG 9600GT OC2's, which were in my "gaming PC" which has never worked because Nvidia make sh*tty motherboard chips (19 motherboards since May 07 between my father and myself, 680i and 780i)

I'm going to get myself a new PC towards the middle to late period of 2010 - probably an i7 rig - and will buy either a top end Nvidia card or a near top end ATI card - whichever is best value for my cash.

There is no point bitching about this card being crap because your comparing it to something 2x the size, 4x + the RAM and 4-8x the speed.

I just got a HD4670 Sapphire 1 GB DDR3 arctic cooling edition.

I thought it would support "DirectCompute" which ATI calls it & Nvidia calls it Cuda...

But apparently ATI only supports it on 4770+ series & 57xx + series not the lower end.

VERY DISAPPOINTING on AMD's part.

Even the stupid Geforce GT 210 has CUDA support. AMD should enable Directcompute on all HD 4xxx series as well as HD 5xxx series.

Hey nebraska, could you try doing a few more tests that aren't all synthetic?

ps: most inq writers either quit or were laid off many months back. I don't recall reading an article that wasn't by nick or nebraska in the past several months.

Has the compatibility and stability improved with the 4xxx and 5xxxx series drivers? I have owned just about every generation ATI up to and including 3xxx and the only series that was worth a damn was the 95xx and 98xx series and those still had some buggy drivers. Why can't ATI produce decent drivers? Why? Why?

Nvidia cards just work, way more times than not, without all the hassle. Hell, my 3650 can't even output to my TV half the time. Its just damn frustrating. C'mon ATI, write some decent drivers, please!

This is an excellent card for the money. A lot of cheap, cool power, and not only for graphics. NVIDIA so far produces the most innovative hardware. Cuda is very useful for accelerating a variety of tasks, from game graphics to physics to high performance computing. This is the only truly new and versatile architecture to hit the market in the last 10 years. AMD did a great disservice to themselves and the rest of us with their horrific acquisition of ATI. Hector "the sector wrecker" Ruiz, entangled AMD in a suicidal two front war and a mountain of dept. Not surprising, after he wrecked Motorola Semiconductor... ATI's hardware is very far from the elegance and versatility of NVIDIA's. Not to mention the excellent NVIDIA drivers on all architectures. On Lunux, ATI fails miserably. If AMD sells off ATI, they have some chances, otherwise, take pictures of your Athlons and Radeons, soon to be rare collector's items...

@Rob

Didn't he get can'd? Or was that your point?

The ATI card to compare with this is the 4670. People buying cards in this range isn't looking to spend more. They're more likely to be trading off bigger hard drives, faster CPUs, memory and so on to meet a fixed final price of their new rig, -or graduating from integrated graphics.

I mean, I stayed away from nvidia during bumpgate, I've personally seen three laptops turn into bricks as a result of that crappy piece of engineering. But I had the tnt32, geforce 3,4,5 and 6 series cards. Nvidia has always pushed out more frames for less money. Untill now. Fermi looks like a turd in the happening if you're to believe Demerjian. And I do. ATI is king now but that doesn't mean nvidia can't compete at a given price level. And TSMC is bound to get better yields on 40nm sooner or later. On fixed budget I'd take this over a 4670 any day. I've had my time with ATI also, the 9600 I played HL2 on was nice. I have a 4830 and 4850 now. Love the 4850. In no hurry to get DX11, enticed though I am, -I'll wait for some games first. I feel ATIs 5 series has yet to produce the killer price/performance card yet though I suspect that won't be long till.

And face up to it folks, we can't expect Intel to make a graphics card that actually works -ever. Look what happened to Intels CPU prices when AMD blew it. Really glad AMD is back in the fight on the CPU front now, price/performance is killer. An ATI without competition is a terrible proposition, we need nVidia. This card does job at the price. It's a good thing.

For Christ sake, It's a 96 stream processor, castrated version of the 8800GT or the equivalent of the 8800GTS/GS from over 3 years ago! It got quad pumped DDR5, but at half the bus (128bit), so it's the same performance in the end! There is NO value add, save lower power 40NM and DDR5!!!!!

And you gave this golden turd 9 of 10?

for 10.00$ more, I would take the MUCH powerfull 110$ 4850 any day or even the 138$ 5750 with DX11, next gen direct compute, eyefinity, TrueHD/DTS-HD Bitstreaming, etc... over this retarded Nvishit GT240.

IMHO, the 5750 is the real deal. Trade blow with the 4850, but drastically less power consumption than previous gen, especially at idle. Includes all modern features and capabilities for investment protection. Far better performance than the GT240, only for a few more dollars.

Ramon

2MB wasted for two small photos (just as I get a popup asking for my assistance in making INQ better), what?

looks like a perfect choice for htpc... decent casual gaming, come cuda potential, future cuda flash h.264 acceleration, doesn't use crappy CCC (god CCC sux ass!!!)

i think i've found my new htpc card

Considering my prevailing OS is linux and ati having a history of dropping support for their older cards on linux, I will probably buy this card.

...must be on vacation or something. He would have never let this article appear on The Inquirer. :)

Too slow, too expensive, too late sums up this card. Why anyone would give this piece of shit a 9/10 rating is beyond me.

This is a Joke right ?
I mean come on this has to be a joke of some sort. Are we to believe that this joke of a card that will soon be out classed and outpriced with ATI new offerings in the low segmant is worth 9/10 beers? LMAO WTF ? Man if this cr@p continues with the Inquier letting people write BS articles like this we all need to Find some other Site to share our views on.
Here is more accurate review of this card, check out the statements compared to the ones here.

" In other words, it appears that the GeForce GT 240 is picking up where the GeForce 9600 GT left off. With the remaining 9600 GT stock priced just under $100, Nvidia's newest card will start life here. This seems like the right product to take on the Radeon HD 4670, as we expect it to provide a similar level of performance, while keeping power consumption in check, but again carrying the wrong price tag. "

and again ,

"However, for those serious about gaming we strongly suggest going for the Radeon HD 5750, which is hardly going to break the bank priced at $145. "

Read the Full review here or just google this card and see why it is just LAME. But if you believe this reviewer then by all means go out and spend your hard earned cash on this card when you could have better IMO. Better yet save your cash and buy some BEER with it.

http://www.techspot.com/review/223-gainward-geforce-gt-240-review/page12.html

Nine pints for this too-little-too-late crapvidia product? Is nvidia paying off everyone these days..

"A third OFF X" means X-(X/3) or 66% X.
In the other hand "A third OF X" means (X/3) or 33% X.
Huge difference, taking into account that it might mislead people into thinking that a card worth 1/4 of an HD8570 still performs 75% as the mighty high end card.

Regards

about beers either but this reviewer must have been on cheap mexican crack to give this piece of shit 9/10.

I wouldn't trust any of those pints for drinking, given the product tested.

Better to compare it to the (soon to be replaced) HD4770, a sub 100$ Ati card, with more or less the same specs (40nm, DX10.1, GDDR5 on a 128 bit bus).

Compare to the 5700 series or lower, not the 5800.