Asus GeForce GT 1030 GT1030-2G-BRK (GT1030-2G-BRK)

Easy start

NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 is the cheapest graphics card that will run any modern game at least 30 FPS on low graphics settings at 720p resolution. Many games run at higher resolutions, settings, and frame rates.

Two sisters

But all this is relevant only for the GDDR5 version of the GT 1030 graphics card, while recently a cheaper modification with DDR4 memory has begun to be found on the market. We strongly do not recommend taking it. Saving money is minimal (10 percent), and the difference in performance is significant (by a third). It's all about the narrow 64-bit bus (the only modern graphics card with such a bus), which makes the memory frequency (in GDDR5 it is a third higher compared to DDR4) critical for fast loading and unloading of game textures. You can distinguish the younger version from the older one by the inscription "D4" in the full name of the model.

Propeller is better

Due to its ultra-low power consumption (only 30 W), the GeForce GT 1030 can be cooled not only by a large fan, but also by a small one, or even passively (in a case with poor air circulation, it can reduce frequencies due to overheating). The low-profile ASUS GeForce GT 1030 LP with a small turntable (the noise is average, but the temperature is very low — up to 65 °C) is suitable even for narrow computer cases. The main drawback of the GT 1030 is its unsuitability for professional video editing. It supports NVIDIA CUDA technology, but NVENC (the second mandatory feature for video editing) does not. Therefore, we can recommend for purchase only unpretentious gamers with a very limited low-cost. Moreover, after a couple of years, an upgrade is guaranteed to be required.