Everyone would like to have high-end graphics card to play games at best settings possible. Unfortunately, only some people may afford to spend $500 and more on a PC part. For this reason, GPU makers reduce capabilities of high-end solutions and release slower but also cheaper products. The new Fermi architecture is no exception. First, NVIDIA released very expensive and powerful graphics cards, and then rolled out "halfs", "quarters" and small parts of those. So GeForce GT 430 is essentially a one fifth of GeForce GTX 480. No, it doesn't just have one fifth of its performance, because not all elements are the same, just reduced by five times. Bandwidth, for example, is reduced by seven times. Obviously, you'll have to reduce game settings to achieve acceptable gameplay. A reasonable question arises: why do you need a DirectX 11 card that actually cannot show you the beauty of innovations it supports? If you only play non-graphic-intensive games, older low-end cards will do fine.

But, anyway, let's see how Inno3D Geforce GT 430 performs. Just have in mind that we mainly test graphics cards' capability of providing best quality possible — otherwise there may be little sense in upgrading in the first place.

Design

Inno3D Geforce GT 430 1GB 128-bit SDDR3
GPU: GeForce GT 430 (GF108) Interface: PCIe x16 GPU clock rate (ROPs/shaders): 700/1400 MHz (standard) Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 800 (1600) MHz (standard) Bus: 128-bit Stream processors: 96 TMUs: 16 (BLF/TLF/ANIS) ROPs: 4 Size: 160x100x15 mm PCB color: blue RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU Outputs: Dual-Link DVI-I, VGA, HDMI Multi-GPU mode: hardware SLI

Comparison with the reference design, front view
Inno3D Geforce GT 430 1GB 128-bit SDDR3	Inno3D GeForce GT 240

Comparison with the reference design, rear view
Inno3D Geforce GT 430 1GB 128-bit SDDR3	Inno3D GeForce GT 240

We compared the card with the older GeForce GT 240 from the same company. But as you can see, Inno3D Geforce GT 430 is much different thanks to its low profile. It's interesting that the company managed to situate all 8 memory chips on the front side of this small PCB.

Like all low-end solutions, this graphics card doesn't have any supplementary power connectors.

Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

• 240 Hz maximum refresh rate
• 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz max. digital resolution
• 2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz max. VGA resolution

Cooling

Inno3D Geforce GT 430 1GB 128-bit SDDR3
The cooler has a small aluminium heatsink and a fan that only cools down the core. The fan is slow, so there's little to no noise. The core doesn't get too hot, too.

Traditionally, we monitored temperatures using EVGA Precision (based on RivaTuner).

Inno3D Geforce GT 430 1GB 128-bit SDDR3

Expectedly, the cooler was efficient enough, and core temperature never exceeded 68°C.

Bundle

A basic bundle should include a user manual, a software CD, and adapters where applicable. Now let's see what other accessories are bundled with each card.

Inno3D Geforce GT 430 1GB 128-bit SDDR3
This is a basic bundle.

Box

Inno3D Geforce GT 430 1GB 128-bit SDDR3
A small cardboard box with all necessary specifications listed on a small sticker. The card itself in fixed securely enough to avoid transportation issues.

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