Hardware Bistro

Product: GeForce GT240 DDR5
Manufacturer: Galaxy
Supplied by: Galaxy
Price: 99USD/RM336
Launch Date: 17 Nov 2009

 

With the new launching of Nvidia latest entry graphic card, Galaxy has announced GeForce GT240 which offers better performance than its predecessor at an affordable price. There are two models available for Galaxy GeForce GT 240; DDR5 and DDR3 with 512MB/1GB memory capacities. FYI, Nvidia GeForce GT240 is the first line of 40nm GPU which supports GDDR5 memory and integrated with 96 stream processors. Without further delay, let us have a deep dive on this product.

 

Company Profile

Long established since 1994. GALAXY was officially formed and is fully dedicated in the manufacturing / distribution of quality computer components. Head office in Hong Kong and ISO9001 certified manufacturing plant & facility in China, this combination of business structure enables us the leading advantages by our.

Business growth is enormous, in the early 2000, we have taken an major step by launching our own brands namely Glacier and Zeus, leading to today's GALAXY. The encouraging result and feedback confirmed our strategy of brand awareness to be a success, whilst gaining an extensive network around the globe through channel partner, reputable large scale chain stores and the hottest online e-tailers.

 

 

Specifications

Package & Contents

 

Galaxy GeForce GT 240 D5 is packed by a small but sturdy cardboard box in Galaxy's theme; black color + spider logo. Some unique key points of Galaxy GeForce GT 240 D5 are highlighted on the packaging such as 512MB 128BIT DDR5, HDMI connectivity, 96 processor cores, 40nm process, DirectX 10.1, PureVideo HD and so on. Besides that it is good to see our Hardware Bistro's award logo on the packaging; Thanks Galaxy.

 

Galaxy GeForce GT 240 D5 is kept inside another secure white cardboard box with two high quality foams; good to see such protection even for an entry graphic card. In term of the bundled accessories, Galaxy GeForce GT 240 D5 only comes with a simple quick reference guide and software CD for driver, DirectX 9.0c, Adobe Reader, manual and Badaboom trail version.

 

A Closer Look - Galaxy GT240 DDR5

After Nvidia GeForce 210 and GT220 announcements in past few months ago, Nvidia has delivered another great value product to consumers; GeForce GT240 which is a higher end graphic card compares with GeForce 210/GT220 but it is still fall under low end segment to capture entry market; a mass and profitable market which shouldn't be ignored. Anyway one of the major differences between these 3 graphic cards is Nvidia GeForce GT240 comes with 96 processor CUDA cores rather than 48/16 for Nvidia GeForce GT220/210.

As we mentioned previously, there are two models available for Galaxy GeForce GT240; one comes with DDR3 (512MB/1GB) while another version comes with DDR5 with only 512MB memory. At first we thought Galaxy GeForce GT240 DDR5 is Galaxy own modified version but actually it is in Nvidia's roadmap for both DDR3 and DDR5 models. However we still have strong faith that Galaxy will definitely produce some interesting and unique version of Nvidia GeForce GT240 to fulfill customers' need in coming future.

 

Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 delivers better demand of digital world like turning photos and videos into masterpieces (greater processing power), enjoy crystal-clear Adobe Flash 10.1 video in full HD (stutter-free viewing), play latest games with fast frame rate and Nvidia Physx effect (2x speed), accelerated applications with 96 CUDA processing cores (55x performance). Other selling points of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 are like supported by CUDA/Physx Technologies, 3D Vision, Window 7, OpenCL 3.2, PureVideo HD, dual-link DVI, VGA, HDMI 1.3a, dual-link HDCP capable, DirectX 10.1, Shader Model 4.1 and so on.

 

Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is adopting an attractive full metal design of aluminum which is not only aesthetically pleasing but also enhances heat dissipation; D3 version also comes with exact same casing. No additional power is required for Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 as its maximum power consumption is only 69W which only requires 300W system power; shouldn't a problem for current desktop PC. 

 

Since the maximum operating temperature of Nvidia GeForce GT240 is 105C hence Galaxy has upgraded the GPU cooler for its GeForce GT240 D5 to enhance its reliability as well as stability. However the GPU cooler of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is much thicker than the stock cooler hence users have to ensure there isn't any compatibility with other PCI cards of the system. The GPU cooler is made by high end aluminum material which was painted in black and basically this cooler looks familiar to us as we believe it is OEM from a famous cooler maker.

One of the advantages of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 compares with other entry graphic cards is HDMI supported which is one of the important criteria when purchasing a graphic card today. Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is not only come with standard VGA and DVI connectivity but also HDMI 1.3a outputs and besides that dual-link for these outputs is supported as well. HDMI 1.3 is not the latest version as HDMI 1.4 was announced in May 2009 with higher resolution up to 4096 x 2160 and Ethernet channel.

 

The GPU cooler of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is secured on PCB with four spring screws for avoiding damage the PCB with excesses force. There is another set of mounting holes on Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 PCB which we believe it is the original mounting hole for stock cooler and it will be useful for future GPU cooler upgrading purpose. Since both of the D3 and D5 models of Galaxy GeForce GT240 are come with similar layout design, the best indicator to distinguish them is this white product label; GF 240 PCI-E 512MB DDR5 128BITs w CRT/DVI/HDMI.

 

Here is the naked blue PCB of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 which is having neat design; same with other Galaxy graphic cards. The GPU core of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is surrounded by plastic shield to avoid the core from being damaged due to wrong GPU cooler installation method as the GPU core isn't equipped by the protective cap. Some of the detail spec of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 are 550MHz graphic clock, 1340MHz processor clock, 96 CUDA cores and etc.

 

For the memory chips, Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 comes with four Samsung FCFBGA chips. These Samsung memory chips; K4G10325FE-HC05 are 128MB 0.5ns GDDR5; first line of 40nm Nvidia graphic card which is powered by GDDR5 memory chips. The detail spec of these memory chips are 1700MHz memory clock, 128 bit memory interface width, 54.4 GB/s memory bandwidth and etc. So far only 512MB version is available for Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 but 1GB version is available for Galaxy GeForce GT240 D3.

 

Here are the quality MOSFETs, capacitors, regulators and other electronic components of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5. Same with other Galaxy graphic cards, Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 comes with two fan connectors as well; 2-pin for default cooler while 3-pin for future upgrading purpose. Galaxy stated the Eagle connector in the packaging which is something new for us but we believe it is the method to secure the graphic card on the motherboard PCI Express x 16 slot.

 

Installation, Testing & Performance

 

Installation portion for Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is extremely easy since it is just an entry graphic card where no additional power supply is required to boost its performance. Our rig is so neat and clean after we have changed our Galaxy GeForce GTX260+ to Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5; a bit unbelievable for such entry graphic card exists in such monster rig.

 

Test Bed

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8300 @ 2.83GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3
Heatsink: OCZ Gladiator Cooler
Memory: Kingston HyperX 4GB DDR2 8500
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Seagate
Graphic Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX260+
PSU: Aerocool V12XT-800
Router: TRENDnet TEW-639GR
Optical Drive: DVD RW
Monitor: Dell 22" Wide Screen LCD
Speaker: Edifier R501
Mouse: SteelSeries Ikari Laser
Mouse Pad: SteelSeries QcK+
HeadSet: SteelSeries 3H
Operating System: Microsoft XP Pro SP2/Vista Home Premium
Ambient Temperature: 27 Degree Celsius

 

 

For better understanding about Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5, we have captured its detail with GPU-Z which is one of the famous tools just like CPU-Z. Based on the detail we get from GPU-Z, Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is having 727mm2 die with 40nm process technology and it was just released on 17 Nov 2009. Other specifications like GPU/memory/shader clock speeds are shown accordingly in GPU-Z.

Here are some of the real gaming benchmark results of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 based on frame per second; higher is better. As you can see, Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is in between GeForce 9600GT and GT220 but the exact predecessor for Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 should be Nvidia GeForce 9600GSO. Based on the results, we would conclude Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is a good product among the rest of entry level graphic cards and suitable for light gaming but not intensive gaming. The performance of Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is just in between entry and mainstream graphic cards. In term of power consumption, we are not going to talk much for Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 since it is a entry graphic card where any 300W PSU will able to feed it well. For the temperature, it is surprisingly to see Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 performs much better than others; really thanks to the unique GPU cooler from Galaxy. 

 

Verdicts

If you are looking for a decent entry graphic card then Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 should be one of the good choices. Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is powered by plenty of great features such as 96 CUDA processor cores, 40nm technology, 512MB GDDR5, HDMI, Dual-Link, DirectX 10.1 and so on. For a less than 100USD graphic card, Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 has did a good job to provide what it supposes to have but if you are really looking something with better promising result in gaming then you should get higher end graphic card rather than this if there isn't any budget constraint else Galaxy GeForce GT240 D5 is definitely a good value card and most probably it will be widely bundled for most of branded consumer desktops.

 

Pros:

+ Value & decent performance graphic card
+ No additional power is required
+ Unique & great GPU cooler
+ 512MB GDDR5 & 96 CUDA cores
+ HDMI & Dual-link supported 

Cons:

- Lack of attractive bundled accessories

Thanks to Galaxy for providing this sample for us to review.

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