Reviews - Nvidia Gainward GeForce GT 640 Rev 2 (GK208)

[HEXUS]

A newer, leaner architecture primed for the entry-level market.

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[Irien]

Sometimes video card numbering defies logic - they're quite happy rebranding 680s as 770s, but a whole new gpu revision gets launched under an old moniker despite the 700 series not having any (non-oem) low end parts. Baffling, quite baffling.

[3dcandy]

Seems less of a good all round choice than the 7730 if you want to do more than just casual gaming. Not sure why NV hamstring their compute side of things so much when they started the whole ball rolling, but then again I guess they make mega bucks from Teslas...

[cjs150]

This is very impressive. Dirt cheap, reasonably quiet and perfect for casual gaming at HD quality. Ideal for my work computer (as long as I do not tell the boss)

[scaryjim]

Indeed, why this isn't the GT 740 I guess we'll never know?

Interesting that they've pulled so much performance from a 64bit GDDR5 interface - makes you wonder if the 7730 is swimming in bandwidth it just doesn't need. At 1080p it's around 25% - 33% faster than an A10-6800k, but some of that will be down to faster CPU (3770k) and architectural improvements (GCN v VLIW4). Which means that having more than twice as much bandwidth, exclusively available to the GPU, is probably providing no more than a 20% boost in graphics performance...

Good card by nvidia this, though - and bodes well for the next round of GK2xx based cards, if they've managed to optimise the balance of the architecture to give better gaming performance at lower price and power draw...

[cheesyboy]

Going on previous rebadgings, it would be a GT730. I gues Nvidia are preferring to retain the 7xx markings for their high/mid-range stuff, with a clear split from that down to the low/mid-range 6xx series.

Of course, they'll probably perform a "refresh" (rebadge) of the remaining 6xx-series cards towards the end of the year to realign against the incoming AMD update.

[Jimbo75]

Card looks good but are those power numbers correct? The difference in power draw between this and the 7730 is crazy given the TDP of each.

[Tarinder]

I've double-checked the power numbers (by running them again) and they're correct. DiRT generally has better performance on AMD hardware, so it may be making more use of the GPU.

[scaryjim]

... The difference in power draw between this and the 7730 is crazy given the TDP of each.

Don't take too much heed of TDPs when it comes to power draws - they're only intended to qualify cooling solutions. A good sample could easily run cooler and draw less power than its TDP rating would suggest. I suppose the other possibility is that for some reason the rest of the PC is also drawing more power when running the Radeon...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Outside of having a small case which is half height,I am uncertain how good value this card is TBH.

Ebuyer sell a single slot HD7730 GDDR5(which has quiet cooler) for £53:

http://www.ebuyer.com/544194-powerco...7730-1gbd5-dhe

HD7750 GDDR5 cards can be had for around £64:

http://www.ebuyer.com/483275-his-775...i-vga-h775fs2g

Its a shame AMD uses a further salvaged Pitcairn part for the desktop HD7730,when they have Oland for their mobile and OEM parts. The HD7730 has worse performance per watt than the HD7750.

[loyal986]

AMD Volcanic is coming people and take good care of your selves because leaks say that it is hot hardware and burns. Nvidia melting from volcanic lava lol. Green goblin dead...

[DanceswithUnix]

Sometimes video card numbering defies logic - they're quite happy rebranding 680s as 770s, but a whole new gpu revision gets launched under an old moniker despite the 700 series not having any (non-oem) low end parts. Baffling, quite baffling.

Perhaps the channel is awash with old GT640 cards, and Nvidia doesn't want to anger the card makers by crashing their price. Fuzzy naming might, at the customer's expense, keep them salable.