After spectacular product launches in the past three months - of the GeForce GTX 500 series, NVIDIA made a quiet addition to its value~mainstream lineup, with the GeForce GT 440. This is probably the first time that a GPU vendor released a new desktop discrete GPU in an older GPU model family after launching a new one, an addition to the GeForce 400 series after giving its GeForce 500 series a solid start in the performance~enthusiast segments. The GeForce GT 440 existed in the wild as an OEM-only product in various strange configurations, today NVIDIA finalized its specifications, and released it to the consumer market.
The GeForce GT 440 is based on the same 40 nm silicon as the GeForce GT 430, codenamed GF108. Physically, GF108 packs 96 CUDA cores, and a 128-bit wide memory interface. The memory controller, coupled with the overall clock profile, are what separate the GT 440 from the GT 430. While the GT 430 uses GDDR3 memory, GT 440 uses GDDR5 memory that packs twice the memory bandwidth. The GPU is clocked at 810 MHz, the 96 CUDA cores at 1620 MHz, and memory at 900 MHz (3600 MHz GDDR5 effective), churning out 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Partners can also opt for cheaper GDDR3 memory. Since GDDR3 memory is synthetically half the cost of GDDR5, partners can opt for 1 GB of GDDR3 over 512 MB GDDR5, or 2 GB of GDDR3 over 1 GB GDDR5. The faster GDDR5 will always have the upper hand with performance, and that's what we're reviewing today.
On the chopping block is ASUS GeForce GT 440, an in-house design by ASUS that uses its own PCB and cooler designs. The card uses 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. ASUS' implementation claims to be superior to the reference design in many aspects, including an out of the box GPU overclocked speed of 822 MHz, high-grade "super alloy" electrical components (such as chokes, MOSFETs, and capacitors), and a better-performing cooler that features a dust-repelling fan with a longer life.
Value and Conclusion
- Exact pricing of the ASUS GT 440 is unknown at this time, our estimate is USD 100.
- Overclocked out of the box
- Good overclocking potential
- Low power consumption in idle and Blu-ray
- Full size HDMI output
- Support for DirectX 11
- Support for CUDA / PhysX
- Low overall performance
- Noisy under load
- High power consumption in 3D
- Still limited to two active display outputs per card
- DirectX 11 relevance limited at this time
8.0
NVIDIA's GeForce GT 440 is not really a new kid on the block. It has been available for OEMs to use in their pre-assembled systems since fall last year. Last year's GT 440 OEM is a fundamentally different design than today's GeForce GT 440. Whereas GT 440 OEM was based on GF106 with 144 shaders, NVIDIA's new GT 440 uses GF108 with 96 shaders - essentially the same configuration as GeForce GT 430. The major difference between GT 430 and GT 440 is that GT 440 can be equipped with fast-running, but more expensive, GDDR5 memory.
The ASUS GT 440 that we have on our testbench today comes with 1 GB of GDDR5 which helps the card gain some performance compared to GT 430 GDDR3. Another improvement is that ASUS has overclocked the GPU out of the box to a frequency of 823 MHz. Overall this results in a 23% performance boost over GeForce GT 430, but also increases power consumption substantially. Where we saw 36 W under load on GT 430, GT 440 consumes 55 W. Power consumption in non-gaming states is still incredibly low with 7 W in idle at the desktop and 12 W when playing back Blu-ray content.
GeForce GT 440 is really not made for gaming, even though we see it manage 1024x768 at lower detail setting in older titles. If you are into 3D gaming then you should really look at GTS 450 which costs around $30 more but is 70% faster.
While an exact pricing is not available yet, our optimistic prediction is around the USD 100 mark, which means that the card is more expensive than AMD's HD 5670, that delivers 11% more performance. HD 5770 for $120 is even twice as fast. Until NVIDIA reduces the prices of their GT 440 and GT 430 substantially, I don't see it gaining any substantial market share.
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