NVIDIA's GeForce GT 430: The Next HTPC King?
by Ryan Smith & Ganesh T S on October 11, 2010 9:00 AM ESTFinal Words
We opened up this article talking about how NVIDIA is foregoing performance in the name of digital media and HTPCs with the GT 430. Whether it’s by NVIDIA’s design or matters out of their hands, GT 430 simply isn’t competitive with AMD’s 5570 and 5670 in gaming performance, with the latter cleaning the GT 430’s clock every single time. NVIDIA isn’t pushing the GT 430 as a gaming performance card so we aren’t going to recommend it as one. If you need budget gaming, then the only choice to make is to go AMD.
With that out of the way we can get in to the meat of the issue: HTPCs. Asus is rightly pitching the ENGT430 at HTPC users, as this is the scenario most enthusiasts are even going to look at this card. So whether we can recommend the GT 430 at all is going to hinge on the GT 430’s capabilities in an HTPC environment.
Rarely are we afforded the opportunity to give a straightforward answer, and this is not one of those opportunities. NVIDIA does some things well here while stumbling in other areas. So let’s start where they stumble: image quality. In the quest for the more perfect HTPC card we found the Radeon HD 5570 earlier this year, and it was good. In more recent times AMD has put a lot of effort in to stepping up their game on image quality with the release of the HQV 2 benchmark and it shows in our results.
We always hate to rely so much on a single benchmark, but at this point HQV 2 provides the best tests we can get our hands on, so we can’t ignore the results. Certainly the GT 430 is a step up from the likes of Intel’s GMA, however the Radeon 5570 has an even bigger advantage over the GT 430. If image quality absolutely matters to you, then the Radeon 5570 is definitely the card to get for the time being until NVIDIA can spend more time on improving the video capabilities of their drivers.
So if NVIDIA stumbles on image quality, where do they excel? 3D stereoscopy. The only rational conclusion that we can draw from these results is that NVIDIA is banking hard on 3D this Christmas, like so much of the consumer electronics industry. They have HDMI 1.4a and they have 3D Vision, and as a result they’re in a position where they can offer a 3D experience that AMD cannot match. If you believe that 3D is king like NVIDIA does and you’ll be using an HTPC to experience it, then clearly there’s no other option than an NVIDIA GT 430.
NVIDIA and Asus also deserve a nod here for noise, and a weak smile for power consumption. The acoustics of the ENGT430 are fantastic, and while load power consumption runs high, idle power consumption looks good. If you’re indifferent about 3D and about picture quality, then perhaps acoustics and power consumption are worth considering? Just bear in mind that with so many vendor designs for both the AMD and NVIDIA cards, what we’re looking at today is only a small sample of what else is out there.
Finally, taking all of this in to account, we’re left with little choice but to offer a tepid reception to the GT 430. As enthusiasts, we can accept the ultimate HTPC card even if it doesn’t deliver on gaming performance, but what NVIDIA has given us is not the ultimate HTPC card. 3D and HDMI 1.4a are good, but 2nd place image quality is not. Since image quality is directly a product of driver development, there’s a great deal of hope for the future and at some point we hope we’ll be able to revisit things and to find a different conclusion.
But for the time being, NVIDIA has delivered an $80 card that is slower and offers inferior image quality compared to its competition – an unenviable position indeed. Only by 3D stereoscopy is it saved from being a flop, making the GT 430 a very significant gamble for NVIDIA. If it turns out that this isn’t a 3D Christmas then it’s not just going to be the CE companies that would be hurting.
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Spazweasel - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
I think something very important is being missed in reviews of cards evaluated for HTPC use: the effects of the form factor of a case.Many HTPCs are in low-profile desktop-style chassis in an effort to visually integrate with the rest of home theater gear. Examples: Antec MicroFusion, nMediaPC HTPC 1080P, Lian Li PC36. These cases cannot accept standard-height cards, and must use low-profile-compatible (half height) cards. Additionally, the low profile of the cases severely inhibits airflow, which renders "open bench" and "inside a cavernous full tower case" thermal and acoustic testing largely irrelevant.
There are also HTPC cases which accept standard-height cards but are only barely tall enough to accommodate those cards, also impairing airflow, and are thus good test targets. Examples: nMediaPC HTPC 1000, Antec Fusion.
Therefore I suggest the following be added for consideration in any card which is ostensibly intended for an HTPC build:
1. Is the card available in low-profile designs?
2. For a given manufacturer's entry, is the low-profile bracket included?
3. Thermal testing and acoustic testing on low-profile cards performed in a low-profile case with all panels in place
4. Thermal testing and acoustic testing on standard-height cards performed in a case that is exactly as tall as a standard PC card, i.e. Antec Fusion, also with all panels in place.
5. Please report card-length. HTPC and other compact cases often have an issue with this.
Thanks very much!
ganeshts - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
Thanks for the pointers. We will keep these in mind for future GPU reviews.1. Yes, the card is available in low profile designs, but it is dual slot because of the heat sink.
2. I only have a nV reference card, but Ryan has the Asus one. I will ask him about questions 2 - 5.
blastingcap - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
"advertized"??AznBoi36 - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
Come on AMD/Nvidia. Give us a cool running, low profile gaming card that is capable of playing games at 1080p and I'll buy it.Spazweasel - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
Have you seen the PowerColor AX5750? It's a Radeon 5750-based card, 1gb DDR5, which is low profile. As far as I know, that's the most oomph you can get in a low profile card at present. 1080p gaming on a single 5750 would be marginal, near 30fps for moderate settings on most modern games, but if you can deal with that or don't mind pushing the sliders a bit to the left it may be doable. All depends upon your requirements. Sliders slammed to the right and 8x antialiasing? Not gonna happen :)If you need more, you can always try a Crossfire rig. In a low profile case that would be thermally brutal, however, and given that the PowerColor AX5750 uses a dual-fan cooling rig that does not exhaust out the back, two of them in a low-profile case might just be too much.
The good news is that the 5750 doesn't draw much power. Guru3D had a test that showed a 5750 Crossfire rig peaking at 401 watts, and that's with a much beefier CPU/motherboard setup (Core i7/965 OC to 3750mhz) than you would see in a typical HTPC rig. With something gentler like a standard-clocked Core i5 or Core i3, or a Propus 620e, you probably will never exceed 350 watts in a Crossfire setup, so you can stick to 450-500 watt PSUs in complete confidence for a pair of 5750. For a single 5750, a 350-400 watt unit (example: Antec's 380-watt PSUs that come with some of their cases) would be just fine.
fuzzymath10 - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
I'm using the Powercolor 5750 Low Profile in an NSK1480 and that size of case is probably about as small as you'd want to go for gaming before stuff gets too hot and/or noisy. These cases often don't have the 6- and 8-pin power connectors you often need and dangling too many off molex adapters is a bit risky.However, it does run at good temps and quietly even overclocked from 700/1150 to 865/1265 and after slowing down the fan. It probably helps that I have two Noctuas, two Scythe S-flexes, and a very undervolted Q8200.
Spazweasel - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
As far as case volume is concerned, I think the SFF form-factor companies like Shuttle are producing are actually smaller. But because those cases are taller and blockier, air has room to circulate over the top of cards; also, big noisy fans are more acceptable in an SFF gaming porta-rig than an HTPC in which silence is golden.Also, with LP cases, putting in a card effectively creates two new isolated compartments within a case (the card reaches from motherboard almost to to contact with the top cover, and from the back of the case almost to the front edge of the motherboard along the length of the card); air on one side of the card doesn't circulate with air on the other side of the card, and you're in trouble if either of those two new compartments doesn't have a robust source of cool air.
Per Hansson - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
Hi, I guess this card would be the same as the announced nVidia Quadro 600?Guess maybe even my current uber crappy G84GL based Quadro 570 would be almost as fast...
That's one issue I see with GF108, sure here they are touting it as a HTPC thing, not for gamers
But it's ok to sell it as a Quadro and charging €200 for it instead?
Meh
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3961/nvidia-launches...
bearson - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
Please beware of these cards from Asus. I have a GT220 which sounds like a helicopter and according to Asus the fan speed on these cards never speeds up or slows down. This seems to be confirmed in this article by looking at the idle vs load noise data.Thanks for a great site!
Best
softdrinkviking - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
"At $80 the GT 430 goes up directly against the Radeon HD 5570 (DDR3 & GDDR5), sale-priced Radeon 5670s, the GT 430, and even the venerable 9800GT."Shouldn't this be "...priced Radeon 5670s, the GT 240, and even..."?