Zotac GeForce GT 240 512MB Graphics Card Review
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Results Analysis
As expected, the Zotac GeForce GT 240 comes in well short of the HD 5850 and GTS 250 cards. Without cards such as the Radeon HD 4770, Radeon HD 4670 and 9800GT to compare against it’s difficult to gauge the performance of Nvidia’s latest budget card.Looking just at the numbers, the card performs reasonably well at 1280×1024 resolutions and using a very crude guide of 30 frames per second for a game to be smoothly playable, the GT 240 is fine until the Anti-Aliasing levels are bumped up. When this happens, the frame rates simply drop away down to single figures in some cases. We can’t be too critical here however as this is the same for most budget cards.
Where to Buy
ZOTAC GeForce GT 240 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 (550MHz/3400MHz) Graphics card ZT-20401-10LDespite the cooler not looking particularly big, the delta T values are very respectable at just 12 and 42 degrees at idle and load respectively and significantly reduced from both the 5850 and GTS 250. Naturally, the power consumption figures are down too without any PCI-e connections.
Overall, it’s a pretty strong showing for the GT 240 and much more likely to complete in the low-end mainstream market with ATI’s budget cards. Essentially, this GPU is perfect for HTPC users with its low noise levels and low profile design.
Conclusion
Although the DirectX 11 Nvidia cards are by far and away much more highly anticipated than the GT 240, a card which has similar features and performance to that of Nvidia’s older GTX-200 series GPUs which have been out for a couple of years now, the GPU does have some merits.
As a budget card, the Zotac GeForce GT 240 512MB proves a point – Nvidia are able to produce some affordable mainstream cards that can rival the ATI competition which in recent years has dominated this end of the market. Certainly, for HTPC users and other enthusiasts using budget rigs and monitors up to about 1280×1024 resolutions, the card would slot in nicely. The inclusion of a HDMI port makes it an even more enterprising card for HTPC customers.
The overall package is well put together with everything that needs to be there in place and the added 3D vision glasses a little bonus utilising the GeForce 3D vision technology – something that previous GTX-200 series card do not feature. Indeed DirectX 10.1 is another small upgrade over the GT 240s predecessors.
At around the £70 mark, the Zotac GeForce GT 240 512MB is well priced and set on a much more even playing field with the HD 4670 and 4770 that have been out for quite some time. While we await Nvidia’s DirectX 11 offerings, the GT 240 is definitely a good card but perhaps not a great card. However, if the GPU does appeal to you, the Zotac edition is well worth considering.
Pros
* GDDR5 memory support
* Price point
* Low power consumption
* Quiet operation
Cons
* SLI not supported
* Still no DirectX 11 support
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