Today we will run some benchmarks on Gigabyte's implementation of Nvidia's GT 430 GPU, the Gigabyte GV-N430OC-1G. What makes the difference with Gigabyte's card is the fact that it comes pre-overclocked and it is equipped with a dual fan cooler. Other than that, the card remains an entry-level Fermi GPU for PCs, designed to run next generation DX11 titles and Blu-Ray 3D. The GeForce GT 430 is specifically designed to power today's digital media PCs, providing enough power for photo and video editing, Blu-ray 3D, mainstream gaming, and the next generation of GPU-accelerated Web browsers. The card also supports CUDA Technology, PhysX technology and comes equipped with an HDMI 1.4 output.

Gigabyte's GV-N430OC-1G card is built on the NVIDIA 40nm process; supports DirectX 11, with 128 bit DDR3 high speed graphics memory and higher default GPU clock. Specifically, the card's GPU is clocked at 730 MHz compared to the 700 MHz of Nvidia's default cards (such as the Inno 3D GT 430 we tested last week) and its shader clock is also set to run 60 MHz higher than (1460 Mhz) the default card. We are not sure whether this overclocking will be translated to some extra FPS during gaming but we will have the chance to check it in detail later on.

The rest of the specifications remain the same, with the Gigabyte's GV-N430OC-1G to come with 96 Cuda cores 2GB DDR3 memory running at 1800 Mhz and a 128-bit memory interface.

The GV-N430OC-1GL also features GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 2 components to maintain low operating temperature and longer product life. For cooling solution, GIGABYTE designed and equipped the card with a new low profile inclined dual fan, promising to double cooling capability and to offer silent environment.

Below you see a comparison among Nvidia's latest Fermi graphics cards. Nvidia has released the GT 430 as a replacement for its previous generation GT 220:

- Retail package

The Gigabyte GV-N430OC-1G retails in a small package, typical for the company's HD Experience Series of graphics cards. The "inclined dual fan " logo is also available on the box:

Besides the graphics card, the package includes a driver ROM disc and a manual:

As you see in the picture below the card is equipped with a low profile inclined dual fan cooling solution designed by Gigabyte. Compared to the smaller cooler we saw at the Inno3D GT 430 card, this one should be obviously more efficient in terms of cooling, but also increases the overall volume, as the GV-N430OC-1G becomes a dual-slot card:

The card outputs through DVI-D, D-Sub or HDMI v1.4 ports and it is powered through the PCI-e interface and not any external power supply. We also liked the extra metal plate Gigabyte bundles with the card. This short plate could replace the the already installed one making it more compact in size for HTPC use:

We installed the GV-N430OC-1G in our test PC and fired up the GPU-Z utility, which confirmed the card's specifications: The GPU core runs at 730MHz (vs 700 stock), the memory at 900MHz and the shaders at 1400MHz (vs 1460 stock). In the following pages we will run some game benchmarks and see whether this slightly pre-overclocked card makes the difference among the rest GT 430 cards.