Nvidia rolls out $80 GeForce GT 430 for HTPC enthusiasts

[TurtleCrusher]

Seems to be a good card. 96 Fermi shaders. Should at least be as fast as a 9600GT was in gaming. As far as video conversion, probably just a driver tweak.

9600gt=16rops 32texture units 650mhz clock 1625mhz shader
GT430= 4 rops 16texture units 700mhz clock 1400mhz shader

Really? At least as fast as a 9600gt? Unless there are some borderline magical driver tweaks there's not a chance they actually compare. The 430 should be MUCH slower.

 

[Keysplayr]

The card is very close to being useless till the video conversion is fixed.

I'm sure you're not basing this on the single bench AT ran? Are you? Or is there a more in depth exploration of the GT430's multimedia capabilities that I haven't seen that you are referring to?
Link me up! So that I may edumacate myself! -thanks

 

[Keysplayr]

Wow Scholz! Those are some glaring differences in thos details. Which begs the question, why did you leave out two of the biggest differences of them all?
64 G98x based shaders vs 96 gf10x based shaders at faster clocks? There should be some margin of offset with this glaring difference you did not mention. Driver improvements are always a factor as well. Maybe 9600GSO level? Possibly.

 

[apoppin]

According to Nvidia, using the GT 430 as a dedicated physX card with GTX 480, gets more performance than than using a 9800 GT in the same system.

It is a nice little card. It is the successor to GT 220 which was no flop . . .
. . .although i do have to admit it was a bit of a shock to review the GTX 480 SOC the week before and then to review the GT 430 the following week.

9600gt=16rops 32texture units 650mhz clock 1625mhz shader
GT430= 4 rops 16texture units 700mhz clock 1400mhz shader

Really? At least as fast as a 9600gt? Unless there are some borderline magical driver tweaks there's not a chance they actually compare. The 430 should be MUCH slower.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Wow Scholz! Those are some glaring differences in thos details. Which begs the question, why did you leave out two of the biggest differences of them all?
64 G98x based shaders vs 96 gf10x based shaders at faster clocks? There should be some margin of offset with this glaring difference you did not mention. Driver improvements are always a factor
as well. Maybe 9600GSO level? Possibly.

Lol. Indeed a facepalm on that. I was under the impression that all 9600 parts had 96sp and it was just the 2nd gen 9600gso that had 48sp. Apparently (and factually) the 9600gt has 64sp.

Things like this are why I dislike Nvidias 8xxx/9xxx/G2xx name scheme. They should have just been a 9550(96gso 48sp), 9600 (gt), and maybe a 9700(9600gso 96sp). Not all encompassed in the same 9600 model.

I do believe even with the sp difference there isnt a way the 430 could be faster in gaming. I could be wrong on that.

(post from phone)

 

[Lonyo]

Wow Scholz! Those are some glaring differences in thos details. Which begs the question, why did you leave out two of the biggest differences of them all?
64 G98x based shaders vs 96 gf10x based shaders at faster clocks? There should be some margin of offset with this glaring difference you did not mention. Driver improvements are always a factor as well. Maybe 9600GSO level? Possibly.

Maybe he left them out because GF10x shaders are often terrible compared to G98x based shaders?
A 192 shader GTS450 can sometimes pull a long way ahead of a 128 shader GTS250, but often it's just barely equal despite having 50% more shaders and a small (40~50MHz stock) clockspeed advantage.

Talking about specs at all is pointless because they don't dictate performance when comparing two generations. 16 vs 4 ROPs? AT showed that those 4 perform more like 8, so really it's 16 vs 8.
64 vs 96 shaders? Most of the time it's more like 64 vs 64 because those 96 perform like 64 in most situations.
The only real metric is actual performance through testing, not specs. Rather than asking why he left specs out, you should ask why he listed specs at all.

 

[Janooo]

I'm sure you're not basing this on the single bench AT ran? Are you? Or is there a more in depth exploration of the GT430's multimedia capabilities that I haven't seen that you are referring to?
Link me up! So that I may edumacate myself! -thanks

Let me know when NV fixes the card.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Since when is HTPC card important?

I have a 5350 which I got for $30 bucks with no fan which does the job (playing Blueray). To be honest my ONBOARD 690G did just fine as well, got 5350 for "shits and giggles"

Why should I spend $100 on this card?

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Since when is HTPC card important?

I have a 5350 which I got for $30 bucks with no fan which does the job (playing Blueray). To be honest my ONBOARD 690G did just fine as well, got 5350 for "shits and giggles"

Why should I spend $100 on this card?

A dedicated HTPC card is not going to be important to everyone with an HTPC. Many are going to be happy if their HTPC simply plays back a relatively decent picture and outputs stereo sound from their TV. However, there are those who are a bit more demanding and want some features and IQ that most onboard graphics and/or any old video card are not going to provide.

For one thing, many "enthusiasts" want a card with PAP for bitstreaming. Those who have dished out $1000, $2000, $5000, or much more for a nice surround sound system that can do True HD and DTS HD MA want actual HD sound. When they have put so much into their sound systems spending a little bit extra on a video card that can do lossless bitstreaming isn't really an issue.

For IQ, a dedicated card can provide better IQ than just about any IGP. Sure, you can get an i3 or i5 system that does PAP and outputs a picture, but the IQ is even worse than that of the 430 with the current NVIDIA drivers. I have little doubt that NVIDIA will fix the problems. Intel? Unlikely.

The important thing about the 430 is that there is finally a competitive alternative in the dedicated HTPC card niche. That's a good thing for those who are HTPC enthusiasts. In the months to come it should mean more reasonable prices from both the red and green team and, hopefully, it will force both sides to step it up in the driver department. Because when it comes down to the drivers for use in HTPC cards, both sides have their issues.