Asus ENGT240 1GB DDR3 Video Card

The ENGT240 is a very quiet, small, and power efficient mainstream card that won't be a dissapointment to HTPC users and mild gamers. This video card also comes very handy for those looking forward for some PhysX action. You might have a powerful card that renders your games but by having one of these little beast in your system as a dedicated PhysX card, it could bring up your framerates tremendously.
here are two editions of this ASUS ENGT240 video card. One of them is the 512MB GDDR5 model which we have reviewed a while ago and the 1024MB DDR3 model which we are looking at now. Both of these edition come with the new Xtreme Design that ASUS has implemented on their cards. These Xtreme Design cards come with Performance, Safety and Reliability.

Features

    *  Powered by NVIDIA GeForce GT240
    * NVIDIA PhysX Ready
    * NVIDIA CUDA Technology
    * NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology
    * Dual-link DVI Support
    * Full Microsoft DirecX 10.1 Support
    * Microsoft Windows 7 Support
NVIDIA PureVideo HD Technology
      Hardware Decode Acceleration
      Dynamic Contrast Enhancement and Color Stretch
      Dual-link HDCP Capable
      Advanced Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing
      High-Quality Scaling
      Inverse Telecine (3:2 & 2:2 Pulldown Correction)
      Noise Reduction
     Edge Enhancement

  




Performance
        ntelligent system monitoring for efficient overclocking with SmartDoctor
        Real-time in-game overclocking with GamerOSD

Safety
     Fuse Protection technology delivers double the over-current protection for risk-free computing
     EMI shield effectively blocks 66% radiations to protect user's health and improve graphics clarity

 While the ASUS ENGT240 1GB DDR3 video card performed good enough for some mild gaming action, it has quite a bit fallen behind the ASUS ENGT240 512MB GDDR5 video card. The ENGT240 512MB GDDR5 video card performed good enough that we could recommend it as a Bang for the Buck item, however I don't feel the ENGT240 1GB DDR3 video falls into that category due to it's lack of performance.


Pros:

+ Compact, quiet, low-power; excellent cooling
+ Full HDMI 1.3a support make it well-suited for HTPC or other similar system
+ Does not require additional power from PSU
+ Represents a substantial upgrade from older cards or integrated video
+ Would make a good low-end GPGPU node or dedicated PhysX card

Cons:
- Dual-slot cooler doesn't seem to make sense on this class of card
- GDDR5 version of this card offers better performance for the same price
- Better gaming performance available for slightly more money

Ratings:

          Performance: 7.00
         Appearance: 8.00
         Construction: 8.50
         Functionality: 7.50   
         Value: 5.50