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Gainward GeForce GT 240 Review
in-house feature
Last October Nvidia released a brand new graphics card aimed at the budget market, the GeForce GT 220, and unlike the shady GTS 250 this was actually a new product that deserved to be part of the 200 series. Built using a last generation manufacturing process and given the codename GT216, you'd be forgiven to be unaware of all this, as the 40nm GeForce GT 220 turned out to be a dud.
In terms of performance we were disappointed to find the theoretical bandwidth of 25.3GB/s placed this card alongside the old GeForce 9500 GT. Not everyone can afford a high-end graphics card, of course, so we welcomed the addition for the sake of competition. But this is where things got even more ridiculous, as Nvidia decided to slap an $80 price tag on the GT 220, even when the far superior Radeon HD 4670 from ATI had been retailing for less for quite some time.
Prices have dropped slightly since then, but our opinion on it hasn't changed much. Needless to say our expectations for the new GeForce GT 240 are underwhelming, but that's not to say we won't give it a fair go. The card is said to be considerably more powerful than the GT 220, though in terms of performance it should still sit well below the GeForce 9800 GT. We really hope the tweaked version from Gainward that we are reviewing today can surprise us, so let's move on to check it out in more detail.
Read the full review.
In terms of performance we were disappointed to find the theoretical bandwidth of 25.3GB/s placed this card alongside the old GeForce 9500 GT. Not everyone can afford a high-end graphics card, of course, so we welcomed the addition for the sake of competition. But this is where things got even more ridiculous, as Nvidia decided to slap an $80 price tag on the GT 220, even when the far superior Radeon HD 4670 from ATI had been retailing for less for quite some time.
Prices have dropped slightly since then, but our opinion on it hasn't changed much. Needless to say our expectations for the new GeForce GT 240 are underwhelming, but that's not to say we won't give it a fair go. The card is said to be considerably more powerful than the GT 220, though in terms of performance it should still sit well below the GeForce 9800 GT. We really hope the tweaked version from Gainward that we are reviewing today can surprise us, so let's move on to check it out in more detail.
Read the full review.
User Comments (41)
Post a comment| saintbodhisatva on December 1, 2009 2:07 AM | if the GT 240 were priced at $80 like the GT 220 is, I'd say people would find more reason to look its way. It might also make a good buy for dedicated folding rigs. |
| freedomthinker on December 1, 2009 3:34 AM | This kinda a waste of money 
|
| Rapidhic on December 1, 2009 4:09 AM | @freedomthinker I agree why not give some more money to buy sth better than this lite ver. of a new graphic card.. |
| razerblade on December 1, 2009 4:30 AM | For a budget card it looks pretty good, but i think it would be better to save up and buy a better card which will give you much better performance! |
| dellz on December 1, 2009 5:45 AM | Totally useless card , imo if your going to buy a gfx card you wont be bummed out for paying 20 - 30 dollars more , i would definetly go for the hd4850 rather than this crap that nvidia is sprayng on to the not so smart it crowd. |
| harby on December 1, 2009 6:35 AM | What a dud, nVidia just won't learn. Seriously, this should be priced at $60, not $100. Wake up nV before its too late. |
| yorro on December 1, 2009 6:37 AM | Too bad that 4xxx series are still far too superior, the sad part is that this GTX240 is new. |
| BlackIrish on December 1, 2009 6:41 AM | I saw the review, and yeah, the card is underwhelming. The point is, if anyone is buying a card for gaming, why don't you just pay some $50-60 more, and buy a card that is from a totally different class? It's like people change graphic cards every month :p |
| Kibaruk on December 1, 2009 7:02 AM | razerblade said: Did you read? Better cards are there for
less money!For a budget card it looks pretty good, but i think it would be better to save up and buy a better card which will give you much better performance! This has turned from marketting strategies to direct rip offs. |
| fref on December 1, 2009 7:12 AM | I wish nVidia would stop releasing cards that are similar in terms of performance to what's already available on the market and concentrate on releasing their next generation Fermi cards instead. |
| compdata on December 1, 2009 7:14 AM | lets hope nVidia gets their 300 series cards to market soon and that they don't have the supply issues ATI currently does. |
| Kibaruk on December 1, 2009 7:25 AM | @Compdata: They already released the first 300 series card,
and ripp ooooff. @Fref: I'm starting to think Fermi cards are just something they imagined :P |
| bonboy on December 1, 2009 7:43 AM | i wonder why nvidia launch this card, while ati focused on
new dx 11 cards , i hope nvida could compete ati in performance and price |
| Decimae on December 1, 2009 7:44 AM | @Kibaruk: That makes me think that too. From all these bad cards nvidia launches, I keep getting the feeling that they're dying. |
| PNagy on December 1, 2009 8:11 AM | It doesn't make sense for me to make vga cards like this one except for silent itx pc. Anyway is it silence at all? |
| ColdPreacher on December 1, 2009 8:38 AM | PNagy said: not with a fan it is.It doesn't make sense for me to make vga cards like this one except for silent itx pc. Anyway is it silence at all? |
| Guest on December 1, 2009 8:48 AM | The first Wolfenstein graph is highlighting the incorrect GPU. |
| regenweald on December 1, 2009 8:49 AM | This is not the first time I have read of rebranding and marketing spin by nvidia. I'm looking forward to their products for first qtr '10, but I have to say, their retail antics don't really inspire brand confidence. |
| IvanAwfulitch on December 1, 2009 9:15 AM | The gtx 260 is far superior. There's really no reason to dip below the gtx 260 for reasons other than price-point. For about 200 bucks or less, the performance you get out of the 260 is still so sky-high that it can be a substitute for some of the newer 270 or 280 models. |
| TorturedChaos on December 1, 2009 9:30 AM | considering it comes in way below the 9800gt, and I got mine for about the same price this card is, that's really sad. I really cannot understand why NVidia even released this card. |
| Chazz on December 1, 2009 9:32 AM | I find it funny how a lot of you are bashing nvidea for shady tactics, but at the same time you are awaiting their fermi cards. If they're so immoral..what does it make you? |
| Nirkon on December 1, 2009 9:54 AM | This card would only make sense if it was price a whole lot
cheaper! ATI takes the ball again with this one. |
| ryan29121 on December 1, 2009 10:12 AM | Nvidia does this way too often. Instead of releasing a new card completely, with new technology, they release dozens of cards that vary slightly in performance and price. Nvidia has been marketing the 200 series for about 15 months now. Come on! |
| sixrealms on December 1, 2009 11:07 AM | I just have a question, is the Radeon HD 4670 better than the 4770? |
| Decimae on December 1, 2009 11:25 AM | @IvanAwfulitch You looked at the benchmarks? Or are you
living in the past? The ATI Radeon HD 4890, 5850, 5870 and
5970 and the Nvidia Geforce GTX 275, 285 and 295 are all
better. And the Radeon HD 4870 is a bit worse, though 25
bucks bit cheaper, too. @sixrealms: The 4770 is most of the times best. |
