News - Sparkle fleshes out low-profile, silent GeForce graphics cards

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GeForce 210, GT 220 and GT 240 given a low-profile and silent makeover for your next HTPC build.

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Read more.

Sound info is incomplete.

Is the 7.1 sound PCM or can it output DTS-HD/DolbyTrueHD directly to the amp?

If it doesn't support the latter then it's probably better to avoid these cards for HTPC.

Since nvidia don't currently have a "pass-thru" capable card, it'll only be 7.1 channel LPCM, and
since that won't be protected path, it'll be downsampled. However, most people won't be able
to tell the difference, so as long as it works, I suspect the average punter will be happy. Remember that the PS3 (pre-slim) didn't do pass-through either, but was still considered one of the better blu-ray players.

I suspect the main advantage of these cards over ATI's 5xxx series is the satellite HD decoding issues with ATI's HD cards, if that's relevant to you. Also, the 220 and 240 have quite good image quality, so passive versions of those are quite attractive. (See reviews of ATI 5 series on Anand for explanation of how the different grades of cards enable/disable video processing features).

Why didn't they just call them the 300-series?

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Originally Posted by Irien

Since nvidia don't currently have a "pass-thru" capable card, it'll only be 7.1 channel LPCM, and
since that won't be protected path, it'll be downsampled. However, most people won't be able
to tell the difference, so as long as it works, I suspect the average punter will be happy. Remember that the PS3 (pre-slim) didn't do pass-through either, but was still considered one of the better blu-ray players.

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Point taken, though my previous card only supported 7.1 as PCM and the difference between DTS-HD and DTHD was noticable through my amp.

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Originally Posted by Irien

I suspect the main advantage of these cards over ATI's 5xxx series is the satellite HD decoding issues with ATI's HD cards, if that's relevant to you.

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It was but has been resolved in Catalyst 10.2.

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Originally Posted by Irien

Also, the 220 and 240 have quite good image quality, so passive versions of those are quite attractive. (See reviews of ATI 5 series on Anand for explanation of how the different grades of cards enable/disable video processing features).

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Indeed, though personally, without decent audio passthrough I know I'd be replacing it pretty soon. I don't think it would make me happy ;)

As with most things, it'll come down to price, which is unfortunately lacking from the article. No more than 30-40 quid I've have thought.

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Originally Posted by MonkeyL

As with most things, it'll come down to price, which is unfortunately lacking from the article. No more than 30-40 quid I've have thought.

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For the G210, you're probably near enough. The GT220 is likely to be ~ £50, and the GT240 ~ £70, I'd guess. A passive, low profile GT240 wouldn't be a bad bet for a little lan party box either (as long as you don't plan to cart a 24" monitor to the lan with you ;) ) - an interesting alternative to the Radeon 5570..

Low profile? Silent/passive?

ok, you have my attention. Any numbers for these? How do they compare to the 5450?

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22120&page=5
HD5450 vs G210, GT220 and GT240. The Sparkles all seem to run at stock clocks, so the comparison there should be valid :mrgreen:

interesting to see the GT240 generally ahead of the HD4670 in that review...

I should have just gone to look instead of asking. Already read that review of the 5450 as well :mrgreen:

So basically this GT240 is the by far the most powerful low profile passive card out there.

I think I'm convinced. sire it uses more power under 3D load, but I don't game, so that isn't as issue. I probably won't benefit from the extra performance quite so much, but I don't replace cards often so would rather spend a little bit more for a kick ass card. This would be replacing my Quadro NVS, so anything is going to out perform it.

Are there likely to be any 2D image quality differences between the two architectures? Monitors will be DVI/HDMI so the analogue interface doesn't matter.

:)

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Originally Posted by Funkstar

So basically this GT240 is the by far the most powerful low profile passive card out there.

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Pretty much, until / unless someone brings out a passive 5570 - then it'd have some competition :D