In the beginning, there was nothing -- which exploded - Terry Pratchett
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Gainward GT240 Golden Sample
THROUGHOUT ALL Nvidia's trials and tribulations, Gainward remained one of the few vendors loyal to it, despite the hard times and tough business for most GPU card brands this past year or two. As Nvidia has finally turned out its first 40nm GPU entry, the low-end GT240, Gainward came out with a custom 'Golden Sample' edition, in its best tradition from high-end times. Here we take a quick look at it and assess the potential.
The small card, at just 175x112mm, comes in an equally compact box, as you can see - welcome news for those hand-carrying the hardware around. The red custom Gainward designed PCB card with an in-house designed cooling fan houses the GT240 GPU with its 96 mini-cores, a 128-bit 1GB GDDR5 graphics memory array and three outputs - a dual link DVI, an HDMI with an in-built audio codec, and an old VGA connector - all on the 2-slot bracket.
This being a high binned 'Golden Sample' GPU chip, the card comes factory overclocked compared to the standard Gainward edition. The GPU clock is set at 585MHz versus the usual 550MHz, the shaders are set at 1,420MHz instead of 1,340MHz, and the GDDR5 memory clock is at 1,890MHz or GDDR5-3780 compared to the normal 1,700MHz setting. As the card is up to 10 per cent faster than the Nvidia reference GT240 GDDR5 version, Gainward claims the card is 26 per cent faster than the 9600GT 1GB GDDR3 card that the GT240 replaces.
I ran the GT240 on my reference system, the Gigabyte X58A-UD7 high-end mainboard using the Core i7 975XE processor and 6GB of Kingston HyperX DDR3-2000 memory. Having tested the higher end GPUs on this setup, I focused on the GPU portion of 3Dmark Vantage and its results versus those of the high-end GPUs - a good example of how the CPU and GPU alone impact the score. Here are the results.
Performance:
Extreme:
So, basically, it is a third of the GTX285 score, or a quarter of the HD5870 GPU results - not bad for a less than $100 class card, mind you. It ran quite cool during the benchmarks, does have sufficient performance at a low price to lure you away from integrated graphics, and has enough memory to handle pretty decent detail levels in games. The card also handles HD video well, and the built-in audio helps avoid HDMI audio cabling headaches.
Gainward also provides further expert overclocking and tune up utilities for Windows, which I didn't run this time as I believe further tight overclocking should be focused on the ultra high end cards where every bit of extra speed is important for the ego boosting records.
Now, the next major Nvidia 40nm chip to be released will be the "Fermi" GT300, of course. While there are still three months until its expected launch, I hope the improved power characteristics seen in the entry level GT240 will also apply to its upcoming bigger brother. The GT240 is also a 40nm part like Fermi, and some of the power efficiency would be applicable in the higher end part too, I believe. After all, the ATI HD5870 did improve a lot in the heat and power department versus its predecessor, so the Nvidia top entry should follow suit. We'll see if it does soon, maybe even before the end of next month.
In Short
Gainward GT240 is the pinnacle of the new entry-level 40nm Nvidia generation - good enough 3D for most games at standard WXGA resolution, full HD capability for Blu-ray and like media, and low power with a compact card form factor. µ
Good
Decent speed, low price, good custom design.
Bad
Don't expect any freebies with a budget card.
Ugly
I'd like to see such custom design on a higher end card.
Beers
9/10
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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.