NVIDIA Launches Low-End GeForce GT 430

Last month, NVIDIA gave budget gamers a Fermi solution in the form of the GeForce GTS 450, and today, the company has followed-up with an even lower-end variant… the GT 430. Boasting a speed increase of about 50% compared to the GT 220, it’s NVIDIA’s hope that the GT 430 will find its place in HTPC and other small PCs all over, and it just might.

Gaming-wise, the GT 430 enables people to delve into some of the latest titles at 1280×1024 with playable framerates. Batman: Arkham Asylum, for example, scores about 46 FPS on average, while StarCraft II nets 30 FPS. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sees even more impressive performance, at 60 FPS (we are unaware of the exact settings used, however).

Like integrated GPUs, I don’t hold much credence in any <$80 GPU offering even what I’d consider a decent gaming experience, but if you have the need, it’s a lot better than nothing. Even NVIDIA itself doesn’t emphasize this as being a pure gaming card, but it does make a great point… that its offerings are far more stable than the competition’s… at least when we’re talking about Intel (NVIDIA didn’t mention the name itself).

All of that aside, the GT 430 proves itself to be a great HTPC card, supporting HD content such as Blu-ray just fine, and also 3D content, such as photos or again Blu-ray movies. In the end, NVIDIA suits this card up for mainstream gaming PCs, HTPCs, “3D media PCs” and also multi-display PCs. If you’re not in the market for a high-end card, this certainly going to cover the bases.

Oddly, this is a card that NVIDIA isn’t pushing that hard in the e-tailer market, but rather towards integration with partners such as Acer, ASUS, Dell, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung and Sony. While cards are available for individual purchase, the biggest customer is going to be these OEMs – especially where budget models are concerned.

Currently, GT 430’s over at Newegg are being sold for around $80, which is the loose quote NVIDIA gave last week during a briefing. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see these prices go down in the weeks ahead though.

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