A graphics you can buy. We’ve tested the Asus GT 1030 SL 2G BRK

Asus GT 1030 SL 2G BRK in detail

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Although the GeForce GT 1030 is an older graphics card, it still represents the most advanced Nvidia has in this segment. It is still based on the Pascal architecture, which Nvidia is not completely done with. Earlier this year (in January), the GT 1010 with the GP108 core even came out. The GT 1030 has the same core, but with one SM block for good, three in total.

In this range of graphics cards, the performance is naturally very low, but there are other advantages that we will gradually discuss. And it should be noted immediately that the GT 1030 can make sense even where the processor has its own iGPU. We decided to test this “weak” GeForce for several reasons. In addition to being readily available in stores, this card provides a good basis for later comparison with integrated graphics cores in processors. Last but not least, by testing the GT 1030, we will supplement our results database in the lower ranks, which will create a nice contrast to the already tested graphics with significantly higher performance.

The card will be represented in tests by a variant in the passive version from Asus. It has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and is therefore one of the highest performing GT 1030 fanless cards.

Asus GT 1030 SL 2G BRK – details

The card is relatively small, with a total weight of 255 g (0.56 lb), most of it is its cooler (175 g = 0.39 lb). It is monolithic, made of aluminum, but the fins are well spread with a large area. The individual fins are thicker, but it is a good compromise between firmness and cooling potential.

It is a bit of a pity that the MOSFETs (QBIQ QM3054M6) and the memory (two SK Hynix H5GC8H24MJR-T2C modules) are without a heatsink. On the other hand, the TDP of this card is very low (30 W) and there will be no critical heating in these spots. Some competing GT 1030 cards have heatsinks on these components. However, the question is whether the heat from the GPU will not heat them rather than cool them, which already requires analysis in a separate article.

The graphics card is relatively short in length, 173 mm. With this length, the right aligns nicely with the edge of Mini-ITX motherboards. However, the GPU heatsink might already be too high for some SFF systems, it is 36 mm long at the thickest point (front). The height of the heatsink varies in different spots, which can be seen well in the side-view shot.

   

The back is very simple—no backplate, and when handling the card, it is necessary to pay increased attention to SMDs, which are variously distributed throughout the PCB. Eventual disassembly of the heatsink is very simple, it is attached by four screws, one of which is a has warranty seal on.

There are two video outputs, both digital. DVI-D and HDMI 2.0b. Thanks to this HDMI standard, the card can be interesting for workstations where high processor performance is important, and graphics do not matter so much and just a 4K display at 60 Hz is required. This is a rarity in the low-end, and until the advent of Rocket Lake processors, this was not possible even with the Intel UHD 600 iGPU with HDMI 1.4 support.

The graphics card is also suitable for 1U servers, as the accessories include a half PCI Express blanking plate, which you can use to replace the original, full-format one.

Although it is a single-slot card, it should be noted again that you won’t be able to install another expansion card in the nearest slot below the card due to the higher heatsink. Therefore, only count on the third slot. In this axis, collisions may also occur in small PC cases with Mini-ITX boards. The heatsink significantly exceeds their lower edge.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Gaming tests

The largest sample of tests is from games. This is quite natural given that GeForce and Radeons, i.e. cards primarily intended for gaming use, will mostly be tested.

We chose the test games primarily to ensure the balance between the titles better optimized for the GPU of one manufacturer (AMD) or the other one (Nvidia). But we also took into account the popularity of the titles so that you could find your own results in the charts. Emphasis was also placed on genre diversity. Games such as RTS, FPS, TPS, car racing as well as a flight simulator, traditional RPG and sports games are represented by the most played football game. You can find a list of test games in the library of chapters (9–32), with each game having its own chapter, sometimes even two (chapters) for the best possible clarity, but this has its good reason, which we will share with you in the following text.

Before we start the gaming tests, each graphics card will pass the tests in 3D Mark to warm up to operating temperature. That’s good synthetics to start with.

We’re testing performance in games across three resolutions with an aspect ratio of 16:9 – FHD (1920 × 1080 px), QHD (2560 × 1440 px) and UHD (3840 × 2160 px) and always with the highest graphic settings, which can be set the same on all current GeForce and Radeon graphics cards. We test low-end graphics cards in FHD resolution (1920 × 1080 px) and with the same detail settings as for high-performance cards. This creates an attractive intersection and comparison with high performance graphics cards. However, most games are unplayable with these settings on small GPUs, so we test them in lowered graphics settings at a resolution of 1366 × 768 px and mostly with medium details, or a combination of low to medium or occasionally just with low settings. This is the case, for example, with DOOM Eternal, which does not allow higher settings on graphics cards with 2 GB of memory (like the GeForce GT 1030 has). You will always find the exact settings in the screenshots in the chapters with the results.

We turned off proprietary settings for the objectivity of the conclusions, and the settings with ray-tracing graphics are tested separately, as lower class GPUs do not support them. You will find their results in the complementary chapters. In addition to native ray-tracing, also after deploying Nvidia DLSS (2.0) and AMD FidelityFX CAS.

If the game has a built-in benchmark, we use that one (the only exception is Forza Horizon 4, where due to its instability – it used to crash here and there – we drive on our track), in other cases the measurements take place on the games’ own scenes. From those we capture the times of consecutive frames in tables (CSV) via OCAT, which FLAT interprets into intelligible fps speech. Both of these applications are from the workshop of colleagues from the gpureport.cz magazine. In addition to the average frame rate, we also write the minimum in the graphs. That contributes significantly to the overall gaming experience. For the highest possible accuracy, all measurements are repeated three times and the final results form their average value.

Computational tests

Testing the graphics card comprehensively, even in terms of computing power, is more difficult than drawing conclusions from the gaming environment. Just because such tests are usually associated with expensive software that you don’t just buy for the editorial office. On the other hand, we’ve found ways to bring the available computing performance to you. On the one hand, thanks to well-built benchmarks, there are also some freely available and at the same time relevant applications, and thirdly, we have invested something in the paid ones.

The tests begin with ComputeBench, which computes various simulations (including game graphics). Then we move on to the popular SPECviewperf benchmark (2020), which integrates partial operations from popular 2D and 3D applications, including 3Ds max and SolidWorks. Details on this test package can be found at spec.org. From the same team also comes SPECworkstation 3, where GPU acceleration is in the Caffe and Folding@Home tests. You can also find the results of the LuxMark 3.1 3D render in the graphs, and the remarkable GPGPU theoretical test also includes AIDA64 with FLOPS, IOPS and memory speed measurements.

For obvious reasons, 3D rendering makes the largest portion of the tests. This is also the case, for example, in the Blender practical tests (2.91). In addition to Cycles, we will also test the cards in Eevee and radeon ProRender renderers (let AMD have a related test, as most are optimized for Nvidia cards with proprietary CUDA and OptiX frameworks). Of course, an add-on for V-ray would also be interesting, but at the moment the editorial office can’t afford it, we may manage to get a “press” license in time, though, we’ll see. We want to expand application tests in the future. Definitely with some advanced AI testing (we haven’t come up with a reasonable way yet), including noise reduction (there would be some ideas already, but we haven’t incorporated those due to time constraints).

Graphics cards can also be tested well in photo editing. To get an idea of the performance in the popular Photoshop, we’re using a script in PugetBench, which simulates real work with various filters. Among them are those that use GPU acceleration. A comprehensive benchmark suggesting the performance of raster and vector graphics is then also used in alternative Affinity Photo. In Lightroom, there are remarkable color corrections (Enhance Details) of raw uncompressed photos. We apply these in batches to a 1 GB archive. All of these tasks can be accelerated by both GeForce and Radeon.

From another perspective, there are decryption tests in Hashcat with a selection of AES, MD5, NTLMv2, SHA1, SHA2-256/512 and WPA-EAPOL-PBKDF2 ciphers. Finally, in the OBS and XSplit broadcast applications, we measure how much the game performance will be reduced while recording. It is no longer provided by shaders, but by coders (AMD VCE and Nvidia Nvenc). These tests show how much spare performance each card has for typical online streaming.

There are, of course, more hardware acceleration options, typically for video editing and conversion. However, this is purely in the hands of encoders, which are always the same within one generation of cards from one manufacturer, so there is no point in testing them on every graphics card. It is different across generations and tests of this type will sooner or later appear. Just fine-tuning the metric is left, where the output will always have the same bitrate and pixel match. This is important for objective comparisons, because the encoder of one company/card may be faster in a particular profile with the same settings, but at the expense of the lower quality that another encoder has (but may not have, it’s just an example).

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Methodology: how we measure power draw

We have been tuning the method of measuring power draw for quite a long time and we will also be tuning it for some time. But we already have gimmicks that we can work with happily.

To get the exact value of the total power draw of the graphics card, it is necessary to map the internal power draw on the PCI Express slot and the external one on the additional power supply. For the analysis of the PCIe slot, it was necessary to construct an in-between card on which the power draw measurement takes place. Its basis is resistors calibrated to the exact value (0.1 Ω) and according to the amount of their voltage drop we can calculate the current. We then substitute it into the formula for the corresponding value of the output voltage ~ 12 V and ~ 3.3 V. The voltage drop is so low that it doesn’t make the VRM of the graphics card unstable and the output is still more than 12/3.3 V.

We are also working on a similar device for external power supply. However, significantly higher currents are achieved there, longer cabling and more passages between connectors are necessary, which means that the voltage drop will have to be read on an even smaller resistance of 0.01 Ω, the current state (with 0.1 Ω) is unstable for now. Until we fine-tune it, we will use Prova 15 current clamp for cable measurements, which also measures with good accuracy, they just have a range of up to 30 A. But that is also enough for the OC version of the RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio. If a card is over the range, it is always possible to split the consumption measurement (first into one half and then into the other half of the 12 V conductors).

And why bother with such devices at all when Nvidia has a PCAT power draw analyzer? For complete control over the measurements. While our devices are transparent, the Nvidia’s tool uses the processor that can (but of course does not have to) affect the measurements. After testing the AMD graphics card on the Nvidia’s tool, we probably wouldn’t sleep well.

To read and record measurements, we use a properly calibrated multimeter UNI-T UT71E, which exports samples to XLS. From it we obtain the average value and by substituting into the formula with the exact value of the subcircuit output voltages we obtain the data for the graphs.

   

We will analyze the line graphs with the waveforms for each part of the power supply separately. Although the 3.3 V value is usually negligible, it needs to be monitored. It is difficult to say what exactly this subcircuit powers, but usually the consumption on it is constant and when it changes only with regard to whether a static or dynamic image is rendered. We measure consumption in two sort of demanding games (F1 2020 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider) and one less demanding one (CS:GO) with the highest graphic details preset and UHD resolution (3840 × 2560 px). Then in 3D rendering in Blender using the Cycles renderer on the famous Classroom scene.

However, in addition to high-load tests, it’s important to know your web browser consumption (which, in our case, is accelerated Google Chrome), where we also spend a lot of time watching videos or browsing the web. The usual average load of this type is represented by the FishIE Tank (HTML5) website with 20 fish and the web video in our power draw tests is represented by a sample with the VP9 codec, data rate of 17.4 mb/s and 60 fps. In contrast, we also test offline video consumption, in VLC player on a 45 HEVC sample (45.7 mb/s, 50 fps). Finally, we also record the power consumption of the graphics card on the desktop of idle Windows 10 with one or two active UHD@60 Hz monitors.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Methodology: temperature tests

We’re also bringing you temperature tests. You are at HWCooling after all. However, in order to make it sensible at all to monitor temperatures on critical components not only of the graphics card, but anything in the computer, it is important to simulate a real computer case environment with healthy air circulation. The overall behavior of the graphics card as such then follows from this. In many cases, an open bench-table is inappropriate and results can be distorted. Therefore, during all, not only heat tests, but also measurement of consumption or course of graphics core frequencies, we use a wind tunnel with equilibrium flow.

Two Noctua NF-S12A fans are at the inlet and the same number is on the exhaust. When testing various system cooling configurations, this proved to be the most effective solution. The fans are always set to 5 V and the speed corresponds to approx. 550 rpm. The stability of the inlet air is properly controlled during the tests, the temperature being between 21 and 21.3 °C at a humidity of ±40%.

We read the temperature from the internal sensors via GPU-Z. This small, single-purpose application also allows you to record samples from sensors in a table. From the table, it is then easy to create line graphs with waveforms or the average value into bar graphs. We will not use the thermal camera very much here, as most graphics cards have a backplate, which makes it impossible to measure the PCB heating. The key for the heating graphs will be the temperature reading by internal sensors, according to which, after all, the GPU frequency control also takes place. It will always be the heating of the graphics core, and if the sensors are also on VRAM and VRM, we will extract these values into the article as well.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Test rig

Note.: At the time of testing, graphics drivers Nvidia GeForce 466.27 are used, and the OS Windows 10 Enterprise build is 19042.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

3DMark

For the tests we’re using 3DMark Professional and the Night Raid (DirectX12) is suitable for comparing weaker GPUs, for more powerful ones there is Fire Strike (DirectX11) and Time Spy (DirectX12).

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Age of Empires II: DE

Test platform benchmark, API DirectX 11; graphics settings preset Ultra; no extra settings.

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Test platform benchmark, API DirectX 11; graphics settings preset Medium; no extra settings.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12; graphics settings preset Ultra High; no extra settings.

   

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Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12; graphics settings preset Medium; no extra settings.

   

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Battlefield V

Test platform custom scene (War stories/Under no flag); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; TAA high; no extra settings.

   

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Test platform custom scene (War stories/Under no flag); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Medium; TAA high; no extra settings.

  

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Borderlands 3

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; TAA; no extra settings.

   

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Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Medium; TAA; no extra settings.

   

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Control

Test platform custom scene (chapter Polaris); API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset High; no extra settings.

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Test platform custom scene (chapter Polaris); API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Medium; no extra settings.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Counter-Strike: GO

Test platform benchmark (Dust 2 map tour); API DirectX 9, graphics settings preset High; 4× MSAA; no extra settings.

   

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Test platform benchmark (Dust 2 map tour); API DirectX 9, graphics settings preset Medium; 2× MSAA; no extra settings.

   

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Cyberpunk 2077

Test platform custom scene (Little China); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; no extra settings.

   

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Test platform custom scene (Little China); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Medium; no extra settings.

   

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Cyberpunk 2077 with FidelityFX CAS

Test platform custom scene (Little China); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; extra settings FidelityFX CAS.

FidelityFX CAS (50%)

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Test platform custom scene (Little China); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Medium; extra settings FidelityFX CAS.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

DOOM Eternal

Test platform custom scene; API Vulkan, graphics settings preset Ultra Nightmare; no extra settings.

      

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Test platform custom scene; API Vulkan, graphics settings preset Low; no extra settings.

      

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

F1 2020

Test platform benchmark (Australia, Clear/Dry, Cycle); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra High; TAA; extra settings Skidmarks blending off*.

   

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Test platform benchmark (Australia, Clear/Dry, Cycle); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Medium; TAA; extra settings Skidmarks blending off*.

   

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*on GeForce graphics cards, the Skidmarks blending option is disabled. This option is missing on AMD graphics cards. However, the overall quality of Skidmarks is otherwise set to High on both GeForce and AMD.
Note: The game also supports DLSS 2.0 and FidelityFX for upscaling and sharpening, but due to the relatively low hardware requirements in the native settings, we will not address them in standard tests. However, measurements on request are possible if you ask for it.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

FIFA 21

Test platform custom scene (Autumn/Fall, Overcast, 9pm, Old Trafford); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; no extra settings.

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Test platform custom scene (Autumn/Fall, Overcast, 9pm, Old Trafford); API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Medium; no extra settings.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Forza Horizon 4

Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Ultra; 2× MSAA; no extra settings.

      

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Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Medium; 2× MSAA; no extra settings.

      

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Mafia: DE

Test platform custom scene (from the Salieri’s Bar parking lot to the elevated railway gate); API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset High; no extra settings.

   

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Test platform custom scene (from the Salieri’s Bar parking lot to the elevated railway gate); API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Medium; no extra settings.

   

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Metro Exodus

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Extreme; no extra settings.

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Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Normal; no extra settings.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Test platform custom scene (Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Air Traffic: AI, February 14, 9:00 am) autopilot: from 1000 until hitting the terrain; API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Ultra; TAA; extra settings Motion Blur off.

   

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Test platform custom scene (Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Air Traffic: AI, February 14, 9:00 am) autopilot: from 1000 until hitting the terrain; API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Medium; TAA; extra settings Motion Blur off.

   

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulkan)

Test platform custom scene; API Vulkan, graphics settings preset Favor Quality; no extra settings.

      

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Test platform custom scene; API Vulkan, graphics settings preset Balanced: low/medium; no extra settings.

      

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Dx12)

Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Favor Quality; no extra settings.

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Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Balanced: low/medium; no extra settings.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Highest; TAA; no extra settings.

   

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Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 12, graphics settings preset Medium; TAA; no extra settings.

   

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Total War Saga: Troy

Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Ultra; 4× AA, no extra settings.

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Test platform benchmark; API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Medium; AA off, no extra settings.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Wasteland 3

Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Ultra; no extra settings.

   

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Test platform custom scene; API DirectX 11, graphics settings preset Medium; no extra settings.

   

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

CompuBench 2.0 (OpenCL)

Test platform benchmark; API OpenCL; no extra settings.

Game Effects

Advanced Compute

High Quality Computer Generated Imagery and Rendering

Computer Vision

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

CompuBench 2.0 (CUDA)

Test platform benchmark; API Nvidia CUDA; no extra settings.

Game Effects

Advanced Compute

High Quality Computer Generated Imagery and Rendering

Computer Vision

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

SPECviewperf 2020

Test platform benchmark; API OpenGL and DirectX; no extra settings.

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SPECworkstation 3

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

FLOPS, IOPS and memory speed tests

Test platform benchmark; app version 6.32.5600; no extra settings.

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Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

LuxMark

Test platform benchmark; API OpenCL; no extra settings.

Blender@Cycles

Test platform render BMW a Classroom; renderer Cycles, 12 tiles; extra settings:OpenCL for Radeon and CUDA for GeForce. , the way most people will use it. OpenCL with GeForce is always slow because path tracing does not support GPU acceleration and is calculated by the CPU.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Blender@Radeon ProRender

Test platform render BMW and Classroom; renderer Radeon ProRender, 1024 samples; extra settings: OpenCL for Radeon and CUDA for GeForce.

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Blender@Eevee

Test platform animation render Ember Forest; renderer Eevee, 350 images; extra settings OpenCL.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Photo editing

Adobe Photoshop: Test platform PugetBench; no extra settings.

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Affinity Photo: Test platform built-in benchmark; no extra settings.

Adobe Lightroom: Test platform custom 1-gigabyte archive of 42 raw photos (CR2) taken on DSLR; no extra settings.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Password cracking

Test platform Hashcat; no extra settings. You can easily try the tests yourself. Just download the binary and enter the cipher you are interested in using the numeric code on the command line.

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Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

GPU clock speed

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Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

GPU temperature

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Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Net graphics power draw

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Analysis of 12 V subcircuit power supply (higher load)

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Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Analysis of 12 V subcircuit power supply (lower load)

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Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Analysis of 3.3 V subcircuit power supply

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Noise level

Measuring the noise of a passive graphics card may seem strange, but the fan is not its only source of sound – so are the coils. Although they are extremely quiet on this card, with our sensitive sound level meter (with parabolic amplification) we can record and distinguish even such a low intensity of sound pressure. Therefore, even in this case, we’re measuring the produced noise level, although it’s always very low.

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Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Frequency response of sound

Measurements are performed in the TrueRTA application, which records sound in a range of 240 frequencies in the recorded range of 20–20,000 Hz. For the possibility of comparison across articles, we export the dominant frequency from the low (20–200 Hz), medium (201–2,000 Hz) and high (2,001–20,000 Hz) range to standard bar graphs.

However, for an even more detailed analysis of the sound expression, it is important to perceive the overall shape of the graph and the intensity of all frequencies/tones. If you don’t understand something in the graphs or tables below, you’ll find the answers to all your questions in this article. This explains how to read the measured data below correctly.

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*With the Sapphire RX 6900 XT Toxic LE, as with the only tested graphics card, the spectral analysis also includes the sound of the water pump.

Low-end graphics cards cannot be misused to mine cryptocurrencies. Their performance is too weak for that and therefore they sadly sit in warehouses. As a result, they also keep low prices. We’re talking about the GeForce GT 1030, which is the only option at a reasonable price for regular users who do not have an iGPU. We’ll see how this little graphics card performs across the tests. For whom does it make sense and for whom does it not?

Conclusion

If there’s a place where the GT 1030 would be perfect, it’s HTPC. Power consumption when playing HEVC and VP9 videos is extremely low. Compared to the RTX 3060, it’s less than 1/2 and, for example, the more powerful Radeon RX 6000 cards consume up to 4–6 times more. This also applies to browsing the accelerated web, and consumption is extremely low when off-load or when working with text and spreadsheet editors. The Asus GT 1030 SL 2G BRK gets the green light for office computers.

Thanks to the passive cooler, it can also be a great choice for powerful, but quietly optimized workstations. Typically built on Intel HEDT or AMD Threadripper platforms, which do not have their own iGPU. But only in cases where you do not expect anything from the graphics card and all computing performance depends on the CPU. The GT 1030 is very weak for any computations, it doesn’t even have its own encoder and the performance of the 384 shaders is really only for emergency home editing.

Performance in Photoshop is also significantly slower than usual. For purposes such as photo editing or 2D graphics as well as any other computational tasks that you are at least a little serious about, the GT 1030 is an inappropriate choice.

No matter how slow the GT 1030 is, it is still faster than a processor iGPU. For weaker graphics cards, we have created a new test environment with a resolution of 1366 × 768 px and medium graphics settings. But we also test in Full HD on Ultra settings, where there is an intersection with high performance graphics cards. And some games are quite playable even with these settings. Such as Age of Empires: Definitive Edition or FIFA 21 reach almost 50 fps on average and 28+ fps is in Wasteland 3. CS:GO runs smoothly above 90 fps.

But then there are games that you can’t play with the GT 1030 even after lowering the resolution and details. These include Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Metro Exodus or Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Cyberpunk 2077 is also close, with Fidelity FX at 50% upscaling in 768p you can get it over 30 fps. But this is at the expense of a terrible visual quality, which will surely make it disgusting even for undemanding players.

Battlefield V, F1 2020, Total War Saga: Troy, but also DOOM Eternal and Red Dead Redemption 2 can get from unplayable to nicely playable by lowering the settings. You won’t be even able to make a save in DOOM and RDR2 in higher resolution or higher graphics settings due to 2 GB of VRAM.

GPU frequencies exceed the specified boost value with 1730–1760 MHz by more than 250 MHz. Power consumption stays just below 30 W TDP (28.8–29.9 W) and you don’t need to worry about the temperature either, which will always be low in at least moderately cooled cases, despite the passive cooler. The coils are relatively quiet – we measured the noise level as standard in all modes, even if the cooler does not have a fan. It makes some noise, of course. You can also study its detailed analysis in the chapter with measurements of frequency response.

The Asus GT 1030 SL 2G BRK can currently be purchased for around € 100. This card may have been cheaper, but it’s still better than nothing or paying double the price for a low-end.

We’ve got the games for our tests from Jama levova

• Contents
• Asus GT 1030 SL 2G BRK in detail
• Table of specifications
• Methodology: performance tests
• Methodology: how we measure power draw
• Methodology: noise and sound measurement
• Test rig
• 3DMark
• Age of Empires II: DE
• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
• Battlefield V
• Borderlands 3
• Control
• Counter-Strike: GO
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Cyberpunk 2077 with FidelityFX CAS
• DOOM Eternal
• F1 2020
• FIFA 21
• Forza Horizon 4
• Mafia: DE
• Metro Exodus
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulkan)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Dx12)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Total War Saga: Troy
• Wasteland 3
• CompuBench (OpenCL)
• CompuBench (CUDA)
• SPECviewperf 2020 and SPECworkstation 3
• FLOPS, IOPS and memory speed tests
• 3D rendering 1/2 (LuxMark and Blender@Cycles)
• 3D rendering 2/2 (Blender@Radeon ProRender and Eevee)
• Photo editing (Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Affinity Photo)
• Password cracking
• GPU clock speed
• GPU temperature
• Net graphics power draw
• Analysis of 12 V subcircuit power supply (higher load)
• Analysis of 12 V subcircuit power supply (lower load)
• Analysis of 3.3 V subcircuit power supply
• Noise level
• Frequency response of sound
• Conclusion