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MagyarZotac GeForce GT 1030 Review
For the original German review, see here.
The GeForce GT 1030 is supplied by Zotac. Due to the low-profile PCB, this graphics card can easily be built into even the smallest of cases. The tiny graphics chip is nicknamed GP108 and is manufactured with the A1-stepping process. Official data about the chip has not been published yet, hence it can only be speculated how many transistors can be found on the 14-nm-built die. The Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 features 384 shaders, its 2 GB GDDR5 VRAM is connected via a 64-bit interface and it supports up to four PCIe Gen3 lanes.
The new Pascal-based entry level chip replaced the Nvidia GeForce GT 730. It is also available for notebooks as the GeForce MX 150. The support for modern video codecs (H.265, VP9 codec) makes the Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 indeed an interesting upgrade for a domestic living-room PC. This is particularly attractive if the PC is not yet equipped with one of the rather expensive seventh-generation Intel Core-i7 chips, since the GeForce GT 1030 plays buttery smooth 4K YouTube content in the Edge browser.
As far as externals are concerned, the Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 offers DVI-D and HDMI-2.0b ports able to output 4K content at 60 Hz. On the downside, there is no DisplayPort port. Older 4K displays that lack HDMI-2.0b may therefore be limited to only 30 Hz for 4K content.
| Specifications | Zotac GT 1030 | Zotac GTX 1050 Mini | GTX 1050 Ti | GTX 1060 6 GB | GTX 1070 FE | GTX 1080 FE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chip | GP108 | GP107 | GP107 | GP106 | GP104 | GP104 |
| Manufactured | 14 nm | 14 nm | 14 nm | 16 nm | 16 nm | 16 nm |
| Shader | 384 | 640 | 768 | 1.280 | 1.920 | 2.560 |
| Texture Units | 32 | 40 | 48 | 80 | 120 | 160 |
| GPU Base Clock | 1.228 | 1.354 MHz | 1.290 MHz | 1.506 MHz | 1.506 MHz | 1.607 MHz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1.468 | 1.455 MHz | 1.392 MHz | 1.848 MHz | 1.683 MHz | 1.733 MHz |
| Memory Bus | 64 Bit | 128 Bit | 128 Bit | 192 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 48 GB/s | 112 GB/s | 112 GB/s | 192 GB/s | 256 GB/s | 320 GB/s |
| Memory Size | 2 GB | 2 GB | 4 GB | 6 GB | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Power (Watt) | 30 W | 75 W | 75 W | 120 W | 150 W | 180 W |
Test System
Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 (not overclocked), 64 GB DDR4, 2400 MHz, MSI Gaming 9 ACK (MS-7882), Acer Predator XB321HK 4K screen, Samsung SM951 M.2 SSD (512 GB, System + Benchmarks) Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit.
Clock Speeds
The Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 has a base clock of 1228 MHz and turbos up to 1468 MHz on average. The 2 GB GDDR5 VRAM runs at 1500 MHz with a memory bandwidth of 46.1 GB/s. During the Furmark stress test, the GPU fluctuates between 1480 and 1540 MHz. For different temperatures, these values can vary. Despite the active cooling of the card it is still important to keep a well-ventilated air-flow in the case if you want the card clock at a constantly high level.
Synthetic Benchmarks
The synthetic benchmark tests reveal a similar level of the Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M. The AMD Radeon RX 500 is a direct competitor to the Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 in terms of pricing but because of its 128-bit memory interface it might offer a better performance. Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to test it yet. The Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 places itself well ahead of the Nvidia GeForce 940MX. The mobile-grade sibling of the desktop 1030 GT shows even better performance in some benchmark tests.
| Performance Rating - Percent | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce MX150 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX -2! | |
| 3DMark | |
| 1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce MX150 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX | |
| 1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce MX150 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX | |
| 3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce MX150 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX | |
Gaming Benchmarks
When looking at the gaming performance of the Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 in more detail it becomes apparent that it is able to display most games smoothly on medium settings. The small memory interface is what is bottle-necking the 1080p gaming experience, although there may be games out there that run just fine on Full HD resolution. If you are more into FIFA 17 then you can't go wrong with the Nvidia GeForce 1030, and if you do need some more horsepower for graphically demanding games every now and then, either the graphics settings or the resolution can be tuned down to produce playable frame-rates.
| Performance Rating - Percent | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) -16! | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) -9! | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) -15! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 -19! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) -9! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti -22! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) -8! | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) -6! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M -23! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M -22! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M -21! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX -20! | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M -22! | |
| BioShock Infinite - 1366x768 High Preset | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX | |
| Battlefield 1 - 1920x1080 High Preset AA:T | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Battlefield 4 - 1366x768 High Preset | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX | |
| Sims 4 - 1920x1080 High Preset | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| GTA V - 1920x1080 High/On (Advanced Graphics Off) AA:2xMSAA + FX AF:8x | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| The Witcher 3 - 1920x1080 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 940MX | |
| Rainbow Six Siege - 1920x1080 High Preset AA:T AF:4x | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Far Cry Primal - 1920x1080 High Preset AA:SM | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| The Division - 1920x1080 High Preset AF:8x | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Doom - 1920x1080 High Preset AA:FX | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Overwatch - 1920x1080 High (Render Scale 100 %) AA:SM AF:4x | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Deus Ex Mankind Divided - 1920x1080 High Preset AF:4x | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| FIFA 17 - 1920x1080 High Preset | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Farming Simulator 17 - 1920x1080 High Preset AA:2xMS AF:2x | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Titanfall 2 - 1920x1080 High / Enabled AA:TS AF:8x | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Call of Duty Infinite Warfare - 1920x1080 High / On AA:FX | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Watch Dogs 2 - 1920x1080 High Preset | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Resident Evil 7 - 1920x1080 High / On AA:FXAA+T | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| For Honor - 1920x1080 High Preset AA:T AF:8x | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Ghost Recon Wildlands - 1920x1080 High Preset AA:T AF:4x | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Mass Effect Andromeda - 1920x1080 High Preset (Resolution Scale Mode off) AA:T | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War III - 1920x1080 High / On (100 % Gameplay Resolution) AA:High | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| Prey - 1920x1080 High Preset AA:2TX SM AF:8x | |
| AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) | |
| low | med. | high | ultra | 4K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BioShock Infinite (2013) | 218.9 | 120.4 | 101.8 | 37.2 | |
| Battlefield 4 (2013) | 160.9 | 109.3 | 76.8 | 31.8 | |
| Sims 4 (2014) | 188.5 | 155 | 110 | 72 | |
| GTA V (2015) | 162.4 | 144.4 | 38.9 | 19.4 | 11.9 |
| The Witcher 3 (2015) | 68.7 | 41.5 | 21.1 | 11.8 | |
| Rainbow Six Siege (2015) | 143.6 | 89.9 | 46.2 | 36.2 | 10.8 |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | 72.9 | 45 | 24.3 | 19.3 | 7.2 |
| Far Cry Primal (2016) | 67 | 30 | 27 | 19 | 7 |
| The Division (2016) | 78 | 47.5 | 11.8 | 8.3 | 6.8 |
| Doom (2016) | 81 | 61.7 | 29.3 | 20.8 | 8.7 |
| Overwatch (2016) | 183.4 | 119.2 | 54.5 | 33.8 | 16.5 |
| Deus Ex Mankind Divided (2016) | 50.1 | 36.1 | 18.2 | 11.7 | 4.6 |
| FIFA 17 (2016) | 250 | 187.9 | 102.8 | 97.3 | 34.7 |
| Battlefield 1 (2016) | 104.8 | 64.3 | 26.5 | 24.6 | 7.8 |
| Farming Simulator 17 (2016) | 233.9 | 174.3 | 83.3 | 56.5 | 17.8 |
| Titanfall 2 (2016) | 114.6 | 80 | 35.2 | 30 | 7.9 |
| Call of Duty Infinite Warfare (2016) | 73.7 | 67 | 36.3 | 32 | 14.4 |
| Dishonored 2 (2016) | 54.2 | 49.4 | 22.4 | 21.1 | 8.9 |
| Watch Dogs 2 (2016) | 55.4 | 47.3 | 21.7 | 14.8 | 6.2 |
| Resident Evil 7 (2017) | 118.3 | 57.7 | 34.5 | 8.9 | 8.4 |
| For Honor (2017) | 97.9 | 33.4 | 31.8 | 23.1 | 7.2 |
| Ghost Recon Wildlands (2017) | 57.3 | 22.9 | 18.7 | 15.8 | 5.56 |
| Mass Effect Andromeda (2017) | 67.2 | 24.5 | 13 | 8.9 | 10.2 |
| Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War III (2017) | 49.9 | 22.1 | 14.4 | 11.7 | |
| Prey (2017) | 109.3 | 35.1 | 31.1 | 28.9 | 10 |
| Rocket League (2017) | 186.2 | 74.3 | 51.3 | ||
| Dirt 4 (2017) | 144.1 | 58.9 | 37.4 | 18.9 | |
| Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) (2017) | 73 | 28 | 23.9 | 16 | |
| F1 2017 (2017) | 112 | 50 | 39 | 38 | 13 |
| Ark Survival Evolved (2017) | 64.1 | 14.2 | 10.9 | ||
| FIFA 18 (2017) | 241.2 | 101.6 | 94.7 | 76.3 | 31.3 |
| Middle-earth: Shadow of War (2017) | 72 | 29 | 18 | 11 | 6 |
| The Evil Within 2 (2017) | 32.4 | 18.4 | 16.3 | 14.8 | |
| ELEX (2017) | 55.7 | 28.6 | 22 | 15.1 | 2.5 |
| Destiny 2 (2017) | 68.6 | 35.9 | 32.6 | 25.5 | 7.3 |
| Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017) | 30.6 | 17.8 | 15.3 | 13 | |
| Assassin´s Creed Origins (2017) | 46 | 22 | 17 | 13 | |
| Need for Speed Payback (2017) | 69.5 | 33 | 28 | 25.1 | 3.8 |
| Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2017) | 97.9 | 23.1 | 19.1 | 15.8 | 3.5 |
| Fortnite (2018) | 162.4 | 47 | 36 | 24.5 | |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 32 | 15.3 | |||
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018) | 50.4 | 20.5 |
Computing Performance
The Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 has only 384 shader units and is fairly on par with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M. Both chips are therefore rather restrained and do not present themselves as a good choice for professionals.
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) Desktop PC Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 Zotac GT 1030, E5-2680 v4 | AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB Reference, 4790K | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition 6 GB, 6700K | AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) MSI RX 470 Gaming X 4GB, 4790K | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 4790K | AMD Radeon RX 460 (Desktop) XFX RX-460P4DFG5 Double Dissipation 4 GB, 4790K | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M MSI PX60 6QD, 6700HQ | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB, 4790K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance Rating | ||||||||
| Percent | 27.8 | 97 249% | 89.9 223% | 88.7 219% | 56.8 104% | 45.5 64% | 31.3 13% | 49.9 79% |
| LuxMark v2.0 64Bit | 245% | 208% | 200% | 128% | 58% | 44% | 99% | |
| Room GPUs-only | 528 | 1661 215% | 1773 236% | 1440 173% | 1175 123% | 782 48% | 803 52% | 1037 96% |
| Sala GPUs-only | 924 | 3468 275% | 2584 180% | 3020 227% | 2156 133% | 1554 68% | 1252 35% | 1864 102% |
| ComputeMark v2.1 | 258% | 233% | 232% | 100% | 69% | 5% | 76% | |
| 1024x600 Normal, QJuliaRayTrace | 1000 | 2746 175% | 3322 232% | 2475 148% | 1931 93% | 1180 18% | 751 -25% | 1572 57% |
| 1024x600 Normal, Mandel Scalar | 787 | 2539 223% | 2002 154% | 2447 211% | 1092 39% | 1121 42% | 749 -5% | 968 23% |
| 1024x600 Normal, Mandel Vector | 594 | 2162 264% | 1994 236% | 2172 266% | 1277 115% | 1224 106% | 548 -8% | 1100 85% |
| 1024x600 Normal, Fluid 2DTexArr | 256 | 991 287% | 963 276% | 911 256% | 596 133% | 479 87% | 321 25% | 555 117% |
| 1024x600 Normal, Fluid 3DTex | 261 | 1220 367% | 985 277% | 1039 298% | 597 129% | 536 105% | 378 45% | 554 112% |
| 1024x600 Normal, Score | 2898 | 9659 233% | 9266 220% | 9044 212% | 5493 90% | 4540 57% | 2747 -5% | 4749 64% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 251% /
254% | 221% /
226% | 217% /
223% | 111% /
107% | 64% /
66% | 21% /
14% | 85% /
82% |
Stress Tests and Emissions
Continuous load does not pose any threat to the gaming experience with the Nvidia GeForce GT 1030. Both stress tests (Time Spy and Sky Diver) were passed without significant performance hiccups. The chip drains not more than 30 Watts, which is very low given its performance. During the Furmark benchmark test, the card reaches 72 °C. According to Zotac, the Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 starts throttling at the temperature target of 83 °C, which means there is still enough room to maneuver. The 30 W power limit might be the most limiting factor of all, especially in terms of potentially overclocking your card. The slide control cannot be set to 120%. Clock speeds under load are very stable and vary between 1480 and 1540 MHz. The maximum clock could only be reached with the GPUZ render test where the card clocks up to its maximum of 1708 MHz. Directly afterwards, we re-ran the 3DMark 11 benchmark, which yielded identical results to the test without prior heavy load.
The graphics card´s performance is also dependent on the air-flow of the case. Inside of a small HTPC, throttling due to reaching the temperature target may occur in a short time. The small fan spins quietly and in auto-mode in a closed system it is basically inaudible. When the speed is manually adjusted to 100%, a faint noise can be heard coming from the case.
Energy Consumption
The Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 does not require an additional power adapter. During 2D tasks it is satisfied with just 12 Watts. Under load, 30 Watts of usage can be measured. In relation to its performance this is exceptional. When reducing the power target from 100 to 85%, the power consumption decreases 4 Watts to 26 Watts.
Overclocking
It is possible to overclock the low-end GPU at hand. An additional 200 MHz for the chip and 600 MHz for the memory are possible. Thanks to the active cooling of our test product, there are fewer heat issues compared to the also available passively cooled solutions. A good air-flow is essential when you want to overclock. Despite the real performance increase, we could not see any significant improvements in our tests.
Verdict
Without any sort of mesmerizing show, Nvidia launched the GeForce GT 1030, which, as the smallest Pascal spin-off yet, is a cheap entry-level graphics card. It offers enough performance to accelerate an ordinary living-room PC. Features like the hardware integration of modern codecs make the expensive upgrade of seventh-generation Intel processors expendable. For only $70, you cannot really do anything wrong when purchasing this solid graphics card.
The Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 convinces with a solid performance and a very low energy consumption of not more than 30 Watts. Moreover, this small GPU comes with enough power to display selected games smoothly.
Nevertheless, we would not recommend this graphics card for gaming but rather for home entertainment, where it is an economical and potent performer. In the mobile segment, the first notebooks that employ the mobile version, the GeForce MX 150, have just arrived. It will probably clock just a tiny bit slower than its bigger desktop-grade sibling.
