14 DAY TRIAL // Although Nvidia didn't made too much of a fuss about the recently released GeForce GT 440 core, Santa Clara's boards partners were quick to release new solutions based on this GPU, EVGA recently announcing the EVGA GT 440 graphics card.
As its the case with all the other GT 440 graphics cards, this too is based on the GF108 GPU, the same core as the one used by the GT 430.
This means that both cards share nearly identical hardware specifications, the GT 440 featuring 96 stream processors, 16 texturing units, 4 ROP units and a 128 bit memory bus.
Manufacturers have the option to pair the cards with either GDDR5 or DDR3 memory.
For their GT 440, EVGA decided to go with 1GB of the slower DDR3 memory that is clocked at 800MHz (1600MHz effective) while the GPU runs at Nvidia's recommended 810MHz.
The thermal design power (TDP) of the graphics card is estimated at a rather low 56W.
This allows EVGA's GT 440 to make do with a low profile heatsink that is toped by a 80mm fan, the whole cooling assembly occupying only one slot.
This is definitely a plus when compared with other solutions based on the GF108 core, although, I think, that a low profile PCB would have been a much more welcomed addition considering the market segment the GT 440 targets.
On the connectivity side of things, the card packs dual DVI-I outputs as well as a mini-HDMI port.
This is compatible with the 1.4a standard, so it allows for the playback of 3D content at 1080p24 and for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD master audio bit streaming.
The card should become available soon from EVGA's website as well as from various online and brick and mortar retailers and carries a price tag of $89.99 US.