Zotac GeForce GT 640 DDR3 Review: Glacial Gaming & Heavenly HTPC
by Ryan Smith & Ganesh T S on June 20, 2012 12:00 PM ESTHTPC Aspects : Decoding and Rendering Benchmarks
We introduced our HTPC decoding and rendering benchmarks in the ASRock Vision 3D 252B review, and also used it in the 4K decode and display section of this review. In this section, we will look at how the system responds to the various test streams under various renderers and decoders. You can roll the mouse over the various entries in the first / last rows of the table below to compare the resource graphs.
Resource Usage Comparison - Software Decode vs. DXVA2 vs. LAV CUVID / EVR-CP vs. madVR
The GT 640 can be made to effectively work with madVR without issues. Unlike GT 540M, it is not necessary to carefully configure madVR to avoid dropping frames. With the queue sizes at the maximum, we were able to go through our rendering test suite in both full screen exclusive and full screen windowed modes without dropping frames.
Starting with this review, we also want to look at the power consumption profile of the system when subject to the rendering benchmarks.
| Zotac GT 640 HTPC Testbed Power Consumption (W) | ||||
| Idle | 51.4 W | |||
| Benchmark Stream | CUVID | avcodec | ||
| EVR-CP | madVR | EVR-CP | madVR | |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 67.5 | 70.9 | 58.9 | 69.3 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 67.5 | 67.1 | 58.8 | 57.7 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 69.9 | 74 | 67.9 | 77.8 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 74.5 | 77.2 | 80.4 | 83.1 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 73.9 | 76.2 | 71.6 | 77.7 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 73.8 | 77.1 | 80.5 | 84.6 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 72.7 | 76.3 | 74.3 | 85.7 |
madVR does carry a bit of a power penalty. As expected, software decode is more power efficient for lower resolution streams (up to 720p60) / MPEG-2 encodes. CUVID based hardware decode turns out to be more efficient with the 1080i and 1080p streams. Note that the benchmark streams were played off the local primary hard drive. The power consumption (measured at the wall outlet) also includes the hard drive activity.
As our coverage of the Zotac GT 640's HTPC aspects comes to a close, we would like to underline the fact that it is one of the best HTPC cards available in the market right now if madVR capability is a must.
For the general consumer, Intel's HD 4000 based system should be more than enough. However, in terms of looking into the future as well as current software infrastructure available, it is hard to go wrong with the GT 640. If it were not for the shortcomings of the NVIDIA drivers, we would have had no hesitation in crowning the GT 640 as the next undisputed HTPC king.
We are aware of the fact that AMD 7750 is a competitor to the GT 640 in more ways than one. We already covered AMD 7750's HTPC performance here. However, we will shortly be carrying out a review of the Sapphire Ultimate 7750 passively cooled edition using the same metrics considered in this review and the latest drivers from AMD.
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MrSpadge - Thursday, June 21, 2012 - link
And they support newer features and cost significantly less to run. Still, the price is ridiculous, especially for DDR3.Taft12 - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - link
"Zotac has worked themselves into an interesting position as the only partner currently offering a single-slot card"I think EVGA's launched even before Zotac. No blocked mini-HDMI port either!
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82...
nathanddrews - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - link
First off, I want to thank you for testing the 4K capabilities of this card. While disappointing that there is no DP output for 4K@60Hz, I suppose it's only a matter of time.Second, and more important, I wanted to make you aware of this in case you haven't seen it. Shot in 4K, edited in 4K, mastered in 4K and you can buy it in any format including Blu-ray (1080p), 2560x1440p, and even its raw 140GB 4K Cineform resolution. Seeing as how one of you awesome people now has the Sony 1000ES (jealous!), you definitely shouldn't waste time showing 4K YouTube clips!
http://timescapes.org/products/default.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-GYrbecb88
Hrel - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - link
I saw a GTX560 on newegg for 145bucks after MIR today. Whenever people ask me about gaming cards and say they don't want to spend much more than 100 bucks I say, cut back on coffee for a week or skip that night at the bars and just spend the extra 30 bucks or so. Makes absolutely NO sense to handicap yourself over 30 bucks. GTX560 FTW!!!just4U - Thursday, June 21, 2012 - link
That's pretty much where the 7750 comes in. Performance overall is fairly similiar. Plus you can do away with the confusion since the 560 comes in 4-5 different flavors, yes?maroon1 - Saturday, June 23, 2012 - link
What ?! GTX 560 is much faster than even HD7770.http://www.anandtech.com/show/5541/amd-radeon-hd-7...
Lolimaster - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - link
So slow that a 6670 feels like high end and 7750 a total monster. $109 for these joke of a gpu (gt640)? You must be trolling.Lolimaster - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - link
A8 5800K is a tiny bit slow thatn 6670 so it should be faster (for free with the APU) than a $109 nvidia discrete gpu.bhima - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - link
This card is horrible. I was initially unimpressed with AMD's 7750 and 7770 performance, but now those cards just look beastly compared to this. This should be a $50-60 card at max for that kind of performance. Hell I think my 540m performs almost as good as this card.staryoshi - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - link
GDDR5 would have really lifted the performance of this card. I'm sure they went with GDDR3 as a cost-saving measure and to not canibalize the sale of other cards.. but at this price point it's not a compelling item at all for most.They really need to get the 28nm process under control and wrangle in pricing on this pup.