I'm still doubting on getting either the 1GB GDDR5 or the 2GB GDDR3 (might consider the 2GB GDDR5 one). Would it make any "mind blowing" difference? It's going to be used in a near silent PC purely for entertainment. Meaning some CS:S and some movies etc since the Intel HD2500 (i3-3220, 8GB 1600, 60GB SSD, 1x 2TB) misses out on some video enhancement things. I've got the 1GB GDDR3 sitting right next to me, took it home from the shop for a test drive It scored a measly 1850 points in the Monster Hunter bench. Do you guys think it's worth it?
For the love of god get the gddr5 model, it is actually a rebadged GT640 gddr5, and has adequate memory bandwidth, even if it is only a 64bit memory bus (think 40gb/s) The ddr3 models (both rebadged gt630s) are either 64 bit (same chip as the gddr5, but slower memory, 14 gb/s) or even worse, an old Fermi chip (rebadged GT440, 128 bit ddr3, 28 gb/s, but much slower GPU then the other versions) Ive had a ddr3 GT630, and now use a GT740 (essentially a rebadged GTX650), but cards have similar GPU power, the main difference is memory bandwidth (14gb/s vs 80gb/s), the difference is night and day, i expect the GT730 gddr5 to be closer to the GT740 then the ddr3 gt730
True, the one I tested (GDDR3) scored a measly 1850 points in the Monster Hunter Benchmark. After a few days I brought it back and ordered the 2GB GDDR5 one, boy what a difference! On stock clocks it scored 3287 (!) points, with a little overclocking I got it to a whopping 3800! Besides that, it's 100% silent. The Gigabyte 730 uses a 100mm fan which is extreme overkill for this card. Lowest fan speed possible and temps don't go above 44c (with overclock). Perfect for movies and games like CS:S & GO, BF2 etc. *I love managing store stock, gives you great perks
Good to hear! I love my little gt630, i got it cheap, and compared to the integrated graphics on my CPU it was a good bump up, but it is extremely bottlenecked by the 64 bit ddr3, moving up to a GT740 was pretty shocking.
It does pretty well, but don't expect anything. Simple games like Battelfield 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive run at maximum settings. Newer games are going to be a slideshow, don't forget that this is a low end card, albeit a very fast low end card.
http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1132 Im not 100% sure whether this is the GT640 version that is equivalent to the GT730 gddr5, but it gives you some idea. http://anandtech.com/bench/product/612 That is the old version of the GT640, but from what i know, the newer one (the one the 730 is based on) should perform better. Not a bad card, but if you want to play games on it, id suggest saving up a few more bucks for a 740 (650) or 750
