Inno3D Geforce GT 430 Graphics Card
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Performance tests
Testbed:
- Intel Core i7-975 3340 MHz CPU
- ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard on the Intel X58 chipset
- 6GB of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM from Corsair
- WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD
- Tagan TG900-BZ 900W PSU
- Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, DirectX 11
- 30" Dell 3007WFP monitor
- VSync disabled
- NVIDIA Drivers 260.99/263.09
- ATI CATALYST 10.11
Benchmarks:
- Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft) — DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0 (HDR), built-in benchmarking utility (the Middle level), maximum settings.
- CRYSIS Warhead (Crytek/EA) — Cargo, DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0, Very High settings, batch file, timedemo available by e-mail request.
- Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (Codemasters) — DirectX 10.0/11.0, Ultra High settings, run the benchmark as follows: "dirt2.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml".
- Metro 2033 (4A Games/THQ) — DirectX 11.0, Super High settings, PhysX disabled, benchmark is run from the game.
- Just Cause 2 (Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive) — DirectX 11.0, Super High settings, run the benchmark from the in-game menu.
- Aliens vs. Predator (Rebellion/SEGA) — DirectX 11.0, Shaders 5.0, Very High settings, run the benchmark from the in-game menu.
- Tropics Benchmark 1.3 (Unigine) — DirectX 10.0, High settings.
- Heaven Benchmark 2.0 (Unigine) — DirectX 10.0, High settings.
- Heaven Benchmark 2.0 (Unigine) — DirectX 11.0, High settings.
- 3DMark Vantage 1.02 (FutureMark) — DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0, multitexturing, Extreme settings.
- RightMark3D (iXBT.com) — DirectX, a synthetic benchmark, Shaders 2.0/2.0b/3.0.
We'd like to thank Unigine for helping us set up their benchmarks.
Far Cry 2
Crysis Warhead, Cargo
Colin McRae: DiRT 2
Metro 2033
Just Cause 2
Aliens vs. Predator DirectX 11.0
Unigine Tropics Benchmark
Unigine Heaven Benchmark DirectX 10.0
Unigine Heaven Benchmark DirectX 11.0
3DMark Vantage Graphics Marks
Conclusions
Inno3D Geforce GT 430 is a tiny card that will fit nicely in a small PC enclosure. It has all necessary outputs (except DisplayPort), so you should have to problems connecting a monitor.
As for performance, this is where it gets complicated. Firstly, GeForce GT 430 is clearly less powerful than Radeon HD 5570, although prices are similar. Secondly, you won't be able to squeeze good performance out of the card at maximum settings even at 1280x1024, so you'll have to reduce resolution or game settings. Either will render graphics improvements like antialiasing and anisotropic filtering useless. But then what's the purpose of DirectX 11 support offered by GeForce GT 430? It may only help to run games which require DX11 (when those are released). This means there's almost no sense in upgrading from, say, GeForce GT 240 to GeForce GT 430.
Of course, GeForce GT 430 is a good choice for those building inexpensive PCs, just don't forget about the competing Radeon HD 5570 that offers slightly higher performance (that doesn't make a big difference though).
When you need to choose a low-end graphics card, 3D performance and features become secondary. Your choice should be based on connectivity, low cooler noise, low power consumption and support for HD content. But since all of that is offered by almost all modern graphics cards cheaper than $100, you just need to watch prices and buy what you like.
We express gratitude to InnoVision for the provided graphics card. The PSU is provided by TAGAN, the monitor is provided by NVIDIA.
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