ZOTACNVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card - Black

I read the reviews and this looked perfect for fitting inside my very small SFF case but I was worried that it might be slightly too big. Fortunately, it fits OK inside the case (Dell Optiplex 7020).I can now use my Iiyama wide monitor at it's top resolution of 3440x1440 and it runs Topaz Photo AI software faster than the I7 CPU.Very happy with the purchase.

It was time to upgrade my 11 year old Intel Core 2 Duo based PC recently and so I had done all the usual things someone who is able to build their own machine does, namely I selected my CPU, motherboard, RAM and SSD. Now, I must stress that my needs are very modest. I do not play any kind of games nor do I run any content creation software. In essence, my PC is a fancy office PC.All that was left was to choose a new graphics card. I could retain my ancient Nvidia GeForece 9600GT, but that card required additional power via the appropriate cable from the power supply and I wanted something much more energy efficient, quiet and modern. The choices given my use case were fairly obvious. I could go for an AMD RX550 or the Nvidia GT1030. Both cards traded blows in various performance charts, but what tipped the balance for me was the fact that the Nvidia offering did not require additional power, drawing a paltry 30 Watts maximum from the PCI-E slot. Using less energy usually also translates to a cooler running card and so the GT1030 was the clear choice for me. In addition, the 1030 was actually cheaper!Next decision was, which one?Perhaps ironically, I wanted a card that had a fan and thus was actively cooled. Despite the card running fairly cool anyway, I still wanted an actively pooled one rather than various passively cooled cards on offer. Sure, those cards may be better suited for use in a home theatrew PC based in your living room, but I still find the fan to be so quiet,it really isn't an issue. Most cards offered a pair of video ports, usually an HDMI and a DVI port. That suited me, although MSI did offer one with a Display port in place of the DVI port which was no good to me although may be a consideration to others who require or prefer connecting their monitor via a display port connection.So, of the actively cooled GT1030's available, which one to pick?There are some models that come pre overclocked from the factory, offering around 50MHz higher boost clock speeds, but this is a tiny performance bump in the scheme of things and I suspect is more a marketing ploy to part you with more money. besides, if you know your stuff, you can likely add the 50MHz to the boost clock if you're so inclined using the required software tools. Nope, no need for a tiny boost like that, so why did I finally settle on the Zotac model? Well, as cooling was my consideration for selection, I literally weighed up the list of cards which saw the Zotac model come in at some 318G, the heaviest model I was able to find. Added weight usually is as a result of more metal, more cooling area in other words. On a card so small, I cannot think of much else to account for the difference between some of the models. In addition, to anyone considering this model for their HTPC build, it does come with the half height bracket so many have lamented were missing from their choice of cards. Further, the Zotac card was one of the cheapest available at the time I purchased, so a great deal since I got a fan and a bracket for that price!In operation the card runs cool and quiet. However, to be fair, I am not stressing it at all as it essentially just runs my Windows 10 desktop and video playback via YouTube and the like. Still, inside my tower case the fan via the software utility, Hardware Info, reported an idle temp in the mid 30's - around 35C I believe. Fan noise was not even noticeable. I could hear my case exhaust fan and CPU cooler fan over the video card. Of course, quiet is subjective, so anyone wanting a truly silent card for their HTPC setup may want to consider a passively cooled model, but I don't think the fan on this would be an annoyance even in a small HTPC case, - not unless, of course, you're sat with your head close to the case and then you might hear the low whir of it.A note to the less informed, do not select a card that advertises it uses DDR4 memory rather than the much faster GDDR5. Some vendors did release cards, Palette was one I believe, that used this inferior form of memory for the card's video RAM.There have been some critical reviews of the GT1030 that focus on its relatively poor gaming performance. This card was not designed for gaming, so the critical nature of some reviews is unfair. Yes, you can run some lightweight games on this card,but do not purchase this card if you believe it's going to offer a highly playable frame rates on Pub G at high settings.For those who simply want a cool, quiet and efficient video card for everyday PC use with the ability to playback 1080p and 4K video content, this is all you need if your choice of CPU does not come with an integrated GPU as most Intel CPU's have done for the last several generations. For average desktop use and video playback, even that will work fine for you. If, like me, you've opted for an AMD CPU that doesn't come with an integrated GPU, then this card is a good choice.

Fitted into a Dell Optiplex 3010 desktop using the provided low profile bracket . Paired with an i5-2400 i can play War Thunder at 1080 on high settings . Makes hardly any noise which is good as the system was almost silent before and it would have been a shame to spoil it with a noisy fan

I am able to play all the games that I like with this card, including Project Cars 2 and the latest Tomb Raiders with only a slight reduction in the quality settings for those two games.Its quiet making little or no noise that I can hear.(PC = Dell Optiplex 3010 SFF/ 16GB Ram/SSD Drive/Intel i7 cpu/ Windows 10)Hardware acceleration for fast video editing is supported in Movavi Video Editor Plus/Wondershare Filmora and. others that support CUDA.

I was looking at updating my old desktop PC so my son could play Minecraft and Roblox. For £70 this has brought new life into my old Dell Optiplex 960 SFF box. Now the Core Duo processor is no longer a problem and the games render wonderfully with smooth graphics. It fits really well into the single small slot as well.

I bought this as a cheap upgrade to my gt710 and I have been very happy with my purchase. I rely on my pc and this graphics card during this lockdown and it’s been a lifeline for me. Games perform at least twice as fast as on the gt710 and I can chat with my friends and play games with them and forget what a nightmare we are all going through for a few hours!

I bought a server with a Xeon E something cpu. The on board graphics were awful, I wanted to do some YouTube stuff and try some games. I purchased a Radeon RX580 and a 500w PSU but I kept having issues. I don't know if the card was faulty, I had all 8 power pins plugged in.I returned that card and got this on a warehouse deal, plugged it in and it has been working for about 2 months just fine. The server has been switched on for several weeks and not a single crash or issue.

Its not very clear at all on the specs but this card has a Single Link DVI - not Dual Link. The card has a Dual Link DVI connector but is SINGLE LINK. It is amazing to think that 20 years after the DVI standard was introduced a graphics card manufacturer makes & sells a card that has a connector on it which will only deliver 'half' the resolution the card is designed to handle - 1920 by 1200 compared to the 4k that has been advertised via HDMI. I have contacted Zotac. They gave a disappointing reply, saying the DVI port will drive 2560 by 1440 or 1600 but without explaining that will be at refresh rates well below 60Hz. In summary as good 'lightweight' card that is handy with older games but which fails for anyone thinking it will be good for dual monitor use.