Nvidia has launched a new low-cost ($100 or less) DX10.1 video card, the GeForce GT240. Built on a 40nm process and featuring a 550MHz GPU, 1GHz GDDR3 or 1.7GHz GDDR5 and up to 1GB of memory, it has all the basic workings of a robust card. It's also DirectX 10.1 compliant, has 96 CUDA cores, 8 ROP units and a max TDP of 70W.
Though the card does have a nice selling price, there are some obvious drawbacks. It won't stand up to a lot of other sub-$100 video cards from previous generations, and will definitely fall short of mid-level cards from this generation. No doubt, Nvidia's goal with the GT240 was to get an entry-level DX10.1 card out the door, hoping to fill any gaps in their 2xx series lineup that AMD might target.
Nvidia may be putting this card directly up against the HD 4650, a notable entry from AMD that typically falls well below the $100 mark. Is Nvidia feeling pressure from AMD, or was this just a casual response to get more hardware in the low-cost arena? We will have a full review on the GeForce GT240 soon.