Thursday, April 5th 2018

NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 Shipping with DDR4 Instead of GDDR5
Low-end graphics cards usually don't attract much attention from the enthusiasts crowd. Nevertheless, not all computer users are avid gamers, and most average-joe users are perfectly happy with an entry-level graphics card, for example, a GeForce GT 1030. To refresh our memories a bit, NVIDIA launched the GeForce GT 1030 last year to compete against AMD's Radeon RX 550. It was recently discovered that several manufacturers have been shipping a lower-spec'd version of the GeForce GT 1030. According to NVIDIA's official specifications, the reference GeForce GT 1030 was shipped with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 6008 MHz (GDDR5-effective) across a 64-bit wide memory bus which amassed to a memory bandwidth of 48 GB/s. However, some models from MSI, Gigabyte, and Palit come with DDR4 memory operating at 2100 MHz instead. If you do the math, that comes down to a memory bandwidth of 16.8 GB/s which certainly is a huge downgrade, on paper at least. The good news amid the bad is that the DDR4-based variants consume 10W less than the reference model.
Will this memory swap affect real-world performance? Probably. However, we won't know till what extent without proper testing. Unlike the GeForce MX150 fiasco, manufacturers were kind enough to let consumers know the difference between both models this time around. The lower-end DDR4 variant carries the "D4" denotation as part of the graphics card's model or consumers can find the denotation on the box. Beware, though, as not all manufacturers will give you the heads up. For example, Palit doesn't.
Source:
Tom's Hardware
Will this memory swap affect real-world performance? Probably. However, we won't know till what extent without proper testing. Unlike the GeForce MX150 fiasco, manufacturers were kind enough to let consumers know the difference between both models this time around. The lower-end DDR4 variant carries the "D4" denotation as part of the graphics card's model or consumers can find the denotation on the box. Beware, though, as not all manufacturers will give you the heads up. For example, Palit doesn't.
59 Comments on NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 Shipping with DDR4 Instead of GDDR5
This should be a GT 1030LE/SE or GT 1020, this is just bad for the market. Lots of low budget gamers will buy these cause they will be even cheaper then a "regular" GT 1030, and then wonder where did that little performance go they were hoping to get in the first place...
But hey at least it is not not GeForce 4 MX level of stupid, which was basically a revamped GeForce 2 under the sticker with D3D7, while the rest of the the family was D3D8, Ti 4200 and up.
Does someone remember that glorious G92 GPU that seemingly never seemed to go away trough like 3 generations or so?
8800GS
8800GT
8800GTS
9600GSO
9800GT Green Edition
9800GT
9800GTX
9800GTX+
GTS 150 (OEM)
GT 230 (OEM)
GTS 240 (OEM)
GTS 250
GTX 260M
GTX 280M
GTX 285M
If you look hard enough you may find one in a G-Sync monitor near you... lel.
But coming to think of it... AMD Pitcairn did the same thing.
that ID holds more trash than the ISS (International Space Station)
Pretty brilliant, really. It's not a performance card.
This will just make the Ryzen APU's look even more tempting to buy.
www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/168/radeon-x1950-xtx
Second, Nvidia not listing the GDDR spec is error on their end, given that every major retailer has them listed as GDDR5. They should especially do so now, as another variant of the card will only add to confusion without proper labeling.
Third, It doesn't matter how underpowered the chip is, it is not an excuse to sell a DDR4 chip as a stand-in for a GDDR5 chip. Nvidia better be properly labeling these or else they will have another GTX 970 situation on their hands.
Fourth, yes to some extent it is the buyer's job to check specs. On the otherhand, it is also Nvidia's job to make sure those specs are made clear through branding in the first place. Same thing happened when AMD introduce the RX 450 D, a low end GPU that had less cores which AMD distinguished with a D. Nvidia can do the same.
FYI, your 3rd point and 6th point are exactly the same. You also skipped 5.
The only thing you've done here is give everyone advance notice of what Nvidia might not do and thus cause customer confusion. If your plan was to stop fanboys or whatever, all you did was give them fuel.
Man, this should be news if they launched these cards with ridiculous amounts of memory, the likes of this 630 4GB back then. :)
both AMD and nvidia just happy to get free publicity from AMDiot and Nvidiot.
Show them with your purchase decisions what you want.
I think hes angry about it