Gigabyte GeForce GT Full Review (Pros + Cons)

One of a computer’s essential components is its graphics card. They enable the creation and screen presentation of images by the computer. Nvidia’s GeForce GT 1030 performs nicely in the competitive gaming titles it was intended to support, even though we could have hoped for better performance in demanding graphics workloads.

Additionally, the card is affordable, has a power-efficient architecture, and has an attractive form size, making it available to just about everyone with a PCIe slot. The CPU for this NVIDIA graphics card is the GeForce GT 710.

The processor, usually the GPU, is the most crucial part of any graphics card. According to PCGameBenchmark, processors are rated based on how many of the top 1,000 PC games they can run. We place this PC graphics card at 36% since it features a chip that can run 367 of the top 1000 games.

Gigabyte GeForce GT

The GeForce GT 1030 uses the brand-new GP108 graphics processor, which has 1.8 billion transistors. Its tiny size of 70mm2 is made possible by the same 14nm FinFET manufacturing technique used to create GP107. In contrast, the GK208 processor in the GeForce GT 730 has 1.02 billion transistors packed into an 84mm2 die.

Alternatively, how about the GeForce GTX 750 Ti, against which the GT 1030 is being pitted in today’s benchmarks? Due to its 28nm manufacturing method, the GM107 GPU in that card has a comparable number of transistors to the GP108 but in a smaller die size (148mm2).

But here’s the thing: the GT 1030 only has three Streaming Multiprocessors, compared to the five used by the GeForce GTX 750 Ti. The Pascal and Maxwell architectures have 128 CUDA cores per SM/SMM, which works out to 384 cores for the GT 1030 and 640 for the GTX 750 Ti.

Additionally, both designs expose eight texture units per SM, for 24 on the GeForce GT 1030 and 40 on the GTX 750 Ti. You can get up to 16 32-bit integer pixels per clock with the two ROP partitions on the two GPUs. On GP108 and GM107, respectively, the partitions are aligned with 256KB and 1MB L2 cache slices.

This translates to 512KB L2 total in GeForce GT 1030, significantly decreasing from GTX 750 Ti’s 2MB. Furthermore, the GT 1030’s specifications divide the memory bus into two 32-bit controllers, resulting in a 64-bit interface, as opposed to the GeForce GTX 750 Ti’s use of two 64-bit memory controllers. That is a significant loss of resources for a 4% difference in complexity.

With higher clock rates, Nvidia significantly improves the GT 1030’s shortcomings. Our sample runs at a base frequency of 1227 MHz and a typical GPU Boost speed of 1468 MHz. GeForce GTX 750 Ti, in contrast, starts at 1020 MHz and increases barely to 1085 MHz. Of course, with 6 Gb/s GDDR5, a 64-bit aggregate memory bus limits the GT 1030’s maximum bandwidth to 48 GB/s, whereas the GTX 750 Ti’s broader interface enables up to 86.4 GB/s.

GT Closer Look

Nvidia’s GT graphics cards are more suited to graphics acceleration than gaming. That is also true of the GT 730. Nvidia designed the GT 730 to provide 3x quicker gaming performance than the integrated graphics and to speed up the multimedia experience utilizing the dedicated graphics card. The GEFORCE GT 730 is the subject of the Gigabyte GT 730 Review GV-N730D3-2GI.

It has a tiny form factor and only has one slot. The card is 27x167x115mm in size (HxLxW). Through an HDMI connector, the card enables a maximum digital resolution of 4096 x 2160. A complete analog resolution of 2048 x 1536 is supported. Despite its diminutive size, it can connect to 3 HD screens. The card supports OpenGL 4.4 and DX12. 300W is the recommended PSU Wattage.

The card has a straightforward design without any elaborate lighting or backplate. The PCB is blue and was produced in China. The cooling requirements of this gigabyte gt 730 card review are met by a single 80mm fan. A Gigabyte printed sticker has been applied to the fan’s motor hub. A single aluminum block carved to resemble the fan-like pattern is present.

This aluminum heatsink covers the GPU and maybe the VRAM chips. Looking at the PCIe connector, something astonished me, to put it mildly. Above the PCIe connector is printed GV-N630D3-2GI Rev: 1.0. Is this word a typo gigabyte? However, GPU-Z verified that it was the GT 730, so the model is really the GT 730. Nomenclature can be perplexing.

To power the fan, there is a single 3-pin header on its left side. The GPU, VRAM, and power delivery sub-components on the PCB receive fresh air directly from the fan. For further reference, the right side of the PCB has pinout reading locations.

The card’s reverse is as plain as it can be. It makes sense that there is no backplate. On the left side, a serial no sticker has been applied. None of the spring-loaded screws have a sticker indicating that the warranty has expired. Due to limitations from the supplier, I did not remove the cooler from the PCB. Remove the spring-loaded screws from the PCB’s backside in order to remove the cooler.

As anticipated, this card lacks a power connector. It is using 75W of the motherboard’s PCIe slot. The card uses Ultra Durable 2 technology from Gigabyte. It uses an all-solid capacitor design along with a Low RDS (on) MOSFET and Ferrite Core Choke to reduce power loss.

Global Rating

4.6 Out Of 5 Stars

Product Comparison

The GT 1030 comparison is only intriguing to us because of how many transistors both devices have. With 384 CUDA and 16 texture units distributed across two SMXes, eight ROPs, 512 KB of L2 cache, and a 64-bit interface, the Kepler-class GeForce GT 730 is a considerably closer match in terms of specifications.

Additionally, the 38W of the GT 730 is much closer to the 30W of the GT 1030. We haven’t seen proof that the 60W GeForce GTX 750 Ti can be passively cooled in a low-profile form. So why is the GP108 GPU so much more complicated than the GK208 GPU? For starters, the two GPUs are organized differently since they support a variety of various architectures.

GP108 uses a single Graphics Processing Cluster with three Streaming Multiprocessors. Once more, each SM has 64KB of shared address space, 128 CUDA cores, eight texture units, 24KB of L1/texture cache, and 128 CUDA cores.

While GK208 has two bigger SMXes, each of which has 192 CUDA cores, eight functional texture units, 64 KB of shared memory and L1 cache, a separate texture cache, and eight functional texture units. In addition, GP108 has 16 ROP units compared to GK208’s 8.

Finally, GP108 delivers a pixel fill rate 19.8 GP/s higher than GK208’s (7.2 GP/s). Additionally, it has a substantially higher texturing rate (29.8 GT/s vs. 14.4 GT/s). Furthermore, according to Nvidia, the work done to enable Pascal’s high clock rates and proper support for asynchronous computing through dynamic load balancing increased the transistor budget.

The GP108 CPU is thoroughly utilized by the GeForce GT 1030; no resources are inactively waiting to be activated. It’s merely a lot denser than GK208 in terms of GPU. AMD’s rivalry falls halfway between GM107 and GK208. Its Radeon RX 550 costs a bit more and consumes a little more power (50W).

Low-profile and “single-slot” versions have been observed, but not both. Neither passive cooling nor anything. On the other hand, a Polaris 12 GPU with 2.2 billion transistors comes with 512 Stream processors, 32 texture units, and 16 ROPs.

This equates to a texturing rate of 35.2 GT/s and a pixel fill rate of 17.6 GP/s. Additionally, AMD gains a theoretical bandwidth advantage of 233% thanks to faster 7 Gb/s GDDR5 modules on a larger 128-bit memory bus.

However, Nvidia claims that it’s GeForce GT 1030 should compete favorably with AMD’s more expensive offering. If accurate, it would be a significant accomplishment for a smaller, simpler graphics card to fit into PCs that might not be able to accept a Radeon RX 550.

Product Testing

I wanted a GPU for the computer so that, of all things, Minecraft might run a little bit more smoothly. There are few possibilities for cards because the PC is in a Dell SFF chassis with a small PSU and very little room. When the mounting bracket is swapped with the half-size frame included in the box, this card fits flawlessly in the SFF enclosure.

Frame rates are more than sufficient for their games, and everything functions as intended. I’m pretty pleased with it and would suggest it for situations where electricity and physical space are constraints.

Conclusion

A media accelerator graphics card from Nvidia’s GT series is the Gigabyte GT 730. Its purpose is to enhance gaming performance above the integrated graphics and speed up the system’s multimedia performance using the dedicated card. This card uses an Nvidia GK208 chip with a die size of 87 mm2 and a 28 nm manufacturing process. 32 TMUs and 8 ROPs are present.

It contains 384 shader units with a 7.2 GP/s pixel fillrate and a 28.9 GT/s texture fillrate. This card includes two 2GB Samsung DDR3 chips with a 64-bit interface and a 14.4 GB/s bandwidth. This chipset supports DX12 and DX11. In addition to being compatible with PCIe 3.0 motherboards, it supports PCIe 2.0 buses.

Memory operates at 1800 MHz while the chip runs at 902 MHz. This card has a Dual Link DVI-D port, a D-Sub port, and an HDMI port for connectivity. Up to three HD screens can be supported by it. It has a compact form factor and a single-slot architecture. Given its cost and practicality, it makes sense that it has no backplate or elaborate RGB lights.

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