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Which GeForce GT 1030 to go for?

Associate
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Posts
53
I have a 6 year old computer which is still running fine and fast enough for most things. The mains specs are:
Windows 10
Intel Core i7-3770S
Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe
Coolermaster 120 case + 450W PSU
8GB RAM
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 630
240GB SSD

I'm also using it with dual 1920 x 1200 monitors (one connected via HDMI, the other via DVI).

I don't do any gaming on the PC and it's mostly for general purpose applications (web browsing, email, MS Office etc).

I recently purchased a 4K tv along with a Vero 4K+ media player. The Vero is very good at playing most 4K videos but there are a couple that are encoded in such a way that it stutters. When I play those same video files on my PC, it works completely fine. So as a cheap solution, I thought I could connect my PC to my TV via HDMI (they are not that far away) but I have realised my GT 630 is not capable of outputting 4K video.

As a cheap(ish) solution, I thought about upgrading to a GeForce GT 1030. I know there are several variants available but I'll need a low profile variant (as my case is a small one). I'm also aware of the massive difference between the GDDR4 and GDDR5 variants so I'm only interested in the GDDR5 variants. I'm also slightly more partial to the passively cooled ones for extra quiet running.

Although I don't play games on the PC (I have an Xbox One X for gaming), I do have two games Lego games on my Steam account:
  1. Lego The Hobbit
  2. Lego The Lord of the Rings
Both games I believe are fairly low on the graphical intensity so I'm sure the 1030 (or even my existing 630) would cope. So as an added benefit, I could play these games via my PC on my TV with a connected Xbox One controller.

Having a look, I can see two options which fit the bill:
  1. Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030 Silent Low Profile 2G (https://www.gigabyte.com/uk/Graphics-Card/GV-N1030SL-2GL#kf)

  2. MSI NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GH LP OC 2Gb GDDR5 (https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/GeForce-GT-1030-2GH-LP-OC.html)
That's quite a big price difference for what seems like pretty much the same kind of card. Not to mention, the Gigabyte has the exact output connections I need for my dual monitor setup.

The MSI variant seems to be just over £30 extra. Are there any differences that could justify the extra cost for this card?

Are there any other cards that are worth considering?

Thanks in advance
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
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I've edited your post because this forum is owned by and paid for by Overclockers UK, if you need to link a product either use the OCUK shop link or if not available then please use the manufacturers own web page, thanks.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Feb 2012
Posts
401
Location
Birmingham
To be honest unless you have poor cooling you won't see much difference. I brought one of the pre overclocked models they sold on here but I doubt it was worth the extra cost. What price you looking at? As it seems the gt1030 on here has jumped up by over £10 :eek:
 
Associate
Joined
18 Feb 2012
Posts
401
Location
Birmingham
Don't buy a passively cooled one unless you have good airflow in the case - IIRC,when the GT1030 was tested the passively cooled ones often performed worse than the ones which had a cooling fan.

Got any reviews as evidence? Not that I'm doubting you just couldn't find anything helpful. Toms hardware seems to give the impression you don't have much difference.


Any way what price is the fanless one? As the gt1030 seem a bit expensive now for what it is.
 
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Soldato
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Got any reviews as evidence? Not that I'm doubting you just couldn't find anything helpful. Toms hardware seems to give the impression you don't have much difference.


Any way what price it the fanless one? As the gt1030 seem a bit expensive now for what it is.

Its something I noticed looking at the reviews. They would compare to the AMD cards and earlier ones,and the passively cooled ones seemed to score relatively worse than reviews with actively cooled ones.

Toms Hardware tested an actively cooled one. If you looked at their numbers against the RX550,the GT1030 beats it. Look at the computerbase.de and Techspot reviews,they used the passively cooled GT1030 and the RX550 on average edged past.

The GT1030 also has gone up in price it was a £55 to £70 card and is not worth more than that. The actively cooled ones tend to be cheaper than the passively cooled ones and are also are low profile.

This was all before the GDDR5 and DDR4 versions BTW. I would just get the cheapest GDDR5 version which is the Palit card:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pali...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-043-pl.html

The Gigabyte can be had for under £70 and is also solid. Toms Hardware said it was quiet even with its small fan.
 
Last edited:
OcUK Staff
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
38,205
Location
OcUK HQ
Good value ones:

MSI NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 Aero ITX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card @ £68.99 inc VAT https://www.overclockers.co.uk/MSI-...DDR5-PCI-Express-Graphics-Card-GX-33Y-MS.html



GEFORCE GT 1030 AERO ITX 2G OC, Core Clock: 1265MHz, Boost Clock: 1518MHz, Memory: 2048MB, DirectX 12 Support, 3 Years Warranty



Only £68.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW





Palit NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card @ £64.99 inc VAT https://www.overclockers.co.uk/Pali...DDR5-PCI-Express-Graphics-Card-GX-043-PL.html



NE5103000646-1080F, Core Clock: 1227MHz, Boost Clock: 1468MHz, Memory: 2048MB, DirectX 12 Support, 2 Years Warranty



Only £64.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW
 
Associate
OP
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Posts
53
I cracked open my case to have a look at my current card (Nvidia GT 630) and noticed that it is very small (i.e. it is not very long) and it was a fanless card. However, despite the small case, it can easily support a much longer card so the GT 1030 wouldn't be a problem at all. I thus ended up getting the Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030 Silent Low Profile. I'm fairly sure it'll do the job but if not then will cross that bridge. Thanks for all the help :D
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Feb 2015
Posts
12,596
Mine is passively cooled, but I dont use it for gaming, it was purchase as I needed a low powered display output, so I would say passive is ok if you not going to use it for gaming, or at least not 3d gaming.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Posts
53
Yeah I got Gigabyte one which is DDR5. I'm planning to use my graphics card for some really old 3D games as mentioned above. Those two Lego games are at least 6 years old so don't think they'll be taxing at all.
 
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