An excellent graphics accelerator for an economy-class gaming personal computer is the GeForce GT 440. This video adapter combines a very affordable price and an acceptable level of performance. For these two reasons, this solution is perfect for organizing an entry-level gaming system unit .
What market segment does this accelerator target
It so happened historically that NVidia immediately presents the most productive video cards that belong to the GTX line. Then, six months later, a more affordable family of graphics cards with the GT prefix appears. These solutions have both a more democratic cost and a lower level of productivity. The products of the latter group include the GeForce GT 440. The characteristics of this accelerator are the best among the products of the GT 4XX series. This video accelerator will fit perfectly into the basic gaming system, most modern toys will go on such a PC.
Graphics adapter specifications
The number of processor cores that make up the GeForce GT 440 is 96. The operating frequency of such a core in this case is 810 MHz, and for the GPU itself the value indicated in the specifications is 1.62 GHz. At the software level, this adapter supports DirectX specifications from Microsoft Corporation version 11.0, and Open GL - 4.0. The accelerator itself is designed to be installed in the PCI - Express version 2.0 motherboard slot and can operate in 16X mode. The number of ports for displaying images on a monitor in this case may be three. Two of them are digital (DVI and HDMI), and one is analog (VGA). Again, in some cases, the number of these ports can be reduced by a single manufacturer to 2. Therefore, before buying such an adapter, you need to clarify the list of ports implemented in it.
Cooling system. Temperature range, heat pack
A very solid thermal package in the GeForce GT 440, which is equal to 65 watts. For this reason, this accelerator cannot function stably in combination with a passive cooling system and only coolers are used with this video card. On the one hand, such an engineering solution allows us to solve the problem of removing excess heat, and on the other, it increases the noise level of the system unit. But in this case, it is impossible to exclude a possible overheating of the adapter during operation. Due to the value of the thermal package of 65 W, the GeForce GT 440 can do without an additional power supply system. The characteristics of the PCI-Express slot indicate the maximum allowable value of the adapter's thermal package of 75 W. The maximum allowable temperature for this semiconductor solution is 98 ° C. In reality, when solving most problems, the values of this parameter are in the range from 50 ° C to 70 ° C. It should also be noted that the manufacturer of this video card recommends equipping system units with such an accessory with power supplies with a minimum power of 300 watts. If this condition is not met, then a personal computer may break down in the future.
RAM subsystem
The most typical amount of RAM for the GeForce GT 440 is 1024Mb. But you can also find modifications with 512 MB. In the first case, an outdated type of RAM - DDR3 is used and its operating frequency is 900 MHz. For the second version, the type of RAM GDDR5 is used, which operates at an operating frequency of 1600 MHz. Although in the second case, RAM is faster, its reduced by 2 times the volume extremely negatively affects the performance of the graphics subsystem. Therefore, there is no cardinal difference in performance between these two modifications. 128 bits - this is exactly the bit depth in this device has a memory bus. The throughput for DDR3 is 28.8 Gb / s, and for GDDR5 - 51.2 Gb / s.
Possible competitors
The main competitors for the NVidia GeForce GT 440 are integrated video cards. A comparison of specifications with Intel's products of this class indicates that a higher level of performance will be achieved in conjunction with discrete graphics, and the use of a separate RAM for the graphics subsystem plays an important role in this case. Integrated video cards from AMD are also losing in performance to the hero of this review. Therefore, the use of such a discrete video system as part of an entry-level gaming PC is more than justified. Well, the current cost of such an accelerator essentially does not leave much chance for its direct competitors.
The cost of this adapter. User reviews
Today, for 3,500-4,000 rubles, you can buy a NVidia GeForce GT 440 in a used state. In the new version, such an adapter is already impossible to find. This cost is justified for a product of this class. Moreover, the presence of a separate video buffer in this accelerator allows you to achieve a certain increase in speed compared to integrated graphics adapters in semiconductor crystals of central processors. As a result, it is justifiable to use a discrete graphics subsystem based on the GeForce GT 440 in entry-level gaming PCs. Reviews focus on this particular feature of this accelerator.
Summary
To this day, the GeForce GT 440 is an excellent entry-level graphics accelerator. Its computing power is enough to run most existing gaming applications, but not with the maximum settings. Well, he can handle the rest of the software too. Also, in comparison with even the current integrated graphics cards, it has high speed and good performance. Therefore, the use of such a discrete graphics accelerator in entry-level gaming personal computers is still justified and is taking place.