Although the GT 430 is Nvidia's proposal for all those who want to replace their GT 220, it should be mainly considered as a graphics card for HTPCs. The $80 GT 430 cannot compete with AMD's offerings at this price range (5570 and 5670) in gaming performance, so Nvidia tried to present it as a capable graphics solution for the HTPC environment, compact in size, future-proof with an HDMI 1.4a port on board and also quiet enough during operation.

From that perspective, the Nvidia GT 430 and specifically Inno3D's implementation we tested today, is a good and affordable choice. The card features D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI 1.4a outputs for 3D playback (if you have Nvidia's 3D Vision kit), and also media playback is enhanced and accelerated by CUDA. The Inno3D GT 430 also comes equipped with a distinctive and quiet cooling system on board, which does not add any volume to the card for easy installation into HTPCs.

On the other hand, if gaming added to your interests, the Inno3D GT 430 will let you play the latest games at resolutions of up to 1280 x 1024, with some extra FPS to be easily achieved by taking advantage the card's overclocking margins.

As an entry-level card, the $80 Inno3D GT 430 could grab some market share mainly for its 3D autostereoscopy capabilities rather for its gaming performance, where AMD's corresponding offerings are more capable.