GIGABYTE GT-240 HDMI Video Card Review

As enthusiasts, we're always interested in the latest monster video cards: the expensive, high-end products that blast through benchmarks fand play all your games with buttery-smooth frame rates at the highest resolutions with all the settings maxed out- and sucking a not inconsiderable amount of electricity while doing so! But these products represent only a tiny fraction of the number of video cards sold; the low-to-mid-end cards comprise the bulk of the market. Besides, a GTX285 or Radeon 5870 isn't the ideal solution for every situation: considerations from a limited budget to building a small, quiet system come into play. NVIDIA has been filling out the low-middle end of their video card product line lately, and in this article Benchmark Reviews tests the GIGABYTE GV-N240D5-512I video card equipped with with NVIDIA's new GeForce GT240 GPU and 512M of GDDR5 memory.

GT240-based video cards are new products only in the sense that they're now available at the retail level; a slightly higher-spec version, the GTS 240, has been available for some time as an "OEM only" part restricted to systems builders. Despite its "GT240" designation, this is not a card based on NVIDIA's newer GT200 GPU like the 260, 270, 280 and 290 series cards; it's based on the older G92 series processors previously used in NVIDIA's 8x00 and 9x00 series cards, albeit rendered in a spiffy new 40 nanometer process that keeps the die size small, yields up, and power and heat levels down. With 96 stream processors, the GIGABYTE GV-N240D5-512I seems to slot in neatly between the 9600GT (64 processors) and the 9800GT with 112 processors, but must make do with a 128-bit memory interface while the 9600/9800 have a 256 bit interface.

The low-mid range video card market is much more crowded than the high-end market: while only a few cards exist in the $300-and-up segment, there are dozens in the sub-$200 segment, often with overlapping prices, features, and performance, and this is where the GIGABYTE GV-N240D5-512I is competing. Read on to see how it compares and whether it's a card you should consider.

About GIGABYTE

Gigabyte United Inc., established in December 2006, is assuming the GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd. Brand, which for the past 20 years has been a world-renowned leader in the motherboard industry. Continuing to focus on its core businesses of GIGABYTE branded motherboards and graphics cards, Gigabyte United Inc. is committed to providing our valued customers with the highest quality products and services featuring the industry's most innovative design.

In order to meet the challenges of today's intensely competitive channel market, Gigabyte United Inc. fully utilizes its key assets including its cutting-edge research and development team as well as its professional sales and marketing resources to continue to develop technologies to fit a complete range of digital life solutions. Now and for the future, Gigabyte United Inc. will continue to embody the unique spirit and culture, which has made Gigabyte one of the foremost brands in the industry.

Previous Page - Next Page >>