Introduction

After spectacular product launches in the past three months - of the GeForce GTX 500 series, NVIDIA made a quiet addition to its value~mainstream lineup, with the GeForce GT 440. This is probably the first time that a GPU vendor released a new desktop discrete GPU in an older GPU model family after launching a new one, an addition to the GeForce 400 series after giving its GeForce 500 series a solid start in the performance~enthusiast segments. The GeForce GT 440 existed in the wild as an OEM-only product in various strange configurations, today NVIDIA finalized its specifications, and released it to the consumer market.

The GeForce GT 440 is based on the same 40 nm silicon as the GeForce GT 430, codenamed GF108. Physically, GF108 packs 96 CUDA cores, and a 128-bit wide memory interface. The memory controller, coupled with the overall clock profile, are what separate the GT 440 from the GT 430. While the GT 430 uses GDDR3 memory, GT 440 uses GDDR5 memory that packs twice the memory bandwidth. The GPU is clocked at 810 MHz, the 96 CUDA cores at 1620 MHz, and memory at 900 MHz (3600 MHz GDDR5 effective), churning out 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Partners can also opt for cheaper GDDR3 memory. Since GDDR3 memory is synthetically half the cost of GDDR5, partners can opt for 1 GB of GDDR3 over 512 MB GDDR5, or 2 GB of GDDR3 over 1 GB GDDR5. The faster GDDR5 will always have the upper hand with performance, and that's what we're reviewing today.

On the chopping block is ASUS GeForce GT 440, an in-house design by ASUS that uses its own PCB and cooler designs. The card uses 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. ASUS' implementation claims to be superior to the reference design in many aspects, including an out of the box GPU overclocked speed of 822 MHz, high-grade "super alloy" electrical components (such as chokes, MOSFETs, and capacitors), and a better-performing cooler that features a dust-repelling fan with a longer life.