Today Nvidia launches the GTX 1630, an entry-level graphics card with an affordable price point. AIB manufacturers EVGA, Zotac and more have all revealed their slate of brand-new graphics cards.
PC Gamers clamoring for an entry-level option under $200 may have just had their prayers answered in the form of the GTX 1630, a brand-new GPU based on the Turing architecture which previously powered the RTX 20-series a handful of years ago. Since it’s up on the Turing architecture, this GPU may be a good option for those looking to modernize their setup a little bit, though there is still no DLSS support on the card.
Key specs
- CUDA cores: 512
- Boost clock: 1785 Mhz
- Memory clock: 12 Gbps
- Memory: 4GB GDDR6
- Memory bus: 64-bit at 96 GB/s
- TDP: 75W
- Price: $150
Crucially, the price of the GTX 1630 has it competing against AMDs RX 6400 and 6300. However, we do have some concerns over the rather narrow memory bus, which may be a crucial limiting factor for this GPU’s performance in some modern titles, even when at 1080p. The GTX 1630 is not suited to be running extremely high-end games at high resolutions. Instead, this basic card may be a good gateway to esports titles like CS:GO or DOTA 2.
The pricepoint of the GTX 1630 may make it an extremely good option for those running PCs that might not also have additional power, since you will also be able to run it without needing to attach any power cables, thanks to the total TDP of 75W. Though, AIB manufacturers may also choose to add their own connectors if they want to raise boost clocks.
Pricing ranges between card and manufacturer, with the baseline MSRP expected to be around $150, while EVGA is charging $200 for its SC-GAMING model of the card. It might not win any awards for performance, but the card is shaping up to be an excellent candidate for HTPCs, Emulation and the small-form-factor market.
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Early reviews state that the GTX 1630 doesn’t quite match up to the RX 6400 in terms of raw performance, despite running on a fully-saturated PCIe 3.0 lane at 16x speeds, something that the RX 6400 never managed to achieve. Considering that it’s cheaper than the RX 6400, it’s good to see yet another option for budget gamers, though you might want to look at second-hand cards in that price point, especially now since prices are hitting rock bottom as the price-to-performance on this card might seem a little bit lacking.