Question 1

can this be installed in a dell 530s?  I can't seem to get it to install and wonder if anyone has done it.

Accepted Answer

I assume you are having issue with drivers. I installed my PNY GT 730 in a Dell OptiPlex 320 with Win 7 Home and the provided driver disk was useless. Go to Device Manager and select Display adapter, Right click it and you should see the option to update drivers. Follow the prompts and make sure you are connected to the internet it may be a few minute wait. The Windows 7 driver works fine for all aspects of the cards capabilities.

Question 2

What Windows Experience Index did it give you for the two Graphic Ratings?  Assume you are using 64bit Windows-7.

Accepted Answer

My W.E. went from a 4.5 to a 7.0 after installing this card. I had gone thru 2 others ( a Zotac GT 430, and a Zotac GT610 w/ 2GB DDR3) and both turned out to be the lowest scoring part of the tests. This GT730 with 1/2 the RAM blew them both out the Window.

Question 3

Will this be a simple plug and play unit?

Accepted Answer

For me, this was an easy install. Just make sure if you are switching from an AMD card to this, that you uninstall the AMD drivers BEFORE taking the previous card out and putting this one in. Then install Nvidia drivers. If you are upgrading from a previous Nvidia card however, you should be good just to plug and play. It was a super simple installation for me.

Question 4

Can the fan be disabled on this card?  I'm not sure if it's quiet, but little fans like this can act up eventually, and this certainly seems like it should be fanless anyway.

Accepted Answer

Well, I can adjust fan speed using MSI Afterburner down to 30% and is pretty quiet (my mini-ITX build has a CPU fan, case fan, and PSU fan and those are pretty quiet and still drown out the GPU fan).  If you do not intend on doing any overclocking or running GPU intensive software and have a fairly well ventilated case, you could just unplug the fan connector from the graphics card.  I would also recommend replacing the stock thermal paste with a better one, such as the Arctic MX-4 I use, to improve thermals a few degrees.

Question 5

how much power does this need?

Accepted Answer

Manufacturer states PNY GeForce GT 730 DirectX 12 VCGGT7301D5LXPB 1GB 64-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Ready Minimum 300W or greater system power supply (with a minimum 12V current rating of 20A) although I have it running on a 220w and it’s Just fine.

Question 6

will this work on a 240w power supply?

Accepted Answer

300w is recommended and I have it on a system with a 380w P/S.
I put a watt meter on my system under full load and it only draws 176w from the wall.
System has a 65w CPU, gt 730, 8 gig ddr3.  A 240w should work.

Question 7

Does the card support multiple-Monitors?

Accepted Answer

most cards of this generation can easily power 2 separate monitors. I have 2x27" monitors with separate desktops running smoothly where I drag and drop many windows hourly. I watch TV on one, have email on another, surf internet... you need a DVI connected monitor and an HDMI (or use adapters to change out the connections) connected one. You could use a VGA but I took that connecter off and went digital with DVI and HDMI.. long story short; yes it can support 2 digital monitors.

Question 8

I am curious if anyone has installed one of these in a Dell Optiplex 755 SFF? I am currently using AsusEAH6450's for these 755's, but I'm looking for something a little for powerful. My only concern is the size of the heatsink and fan.

Accepted Answer

hi Cody. I have installed this card in a dell Dimensions 9200 which is a rather big case. its a small card so I don't see a problem installing this in the smallest of cases. This card has no additional power hookups on it and it can run just fin on a 375 watt power supply. i bought this card to replace a 7300le originally in my machine after my card I had blew out. the heat sink and fan I barely hear because it doesn't get loud. i didn't really measure the temp but I know that there is far less heat coming out of the back of my case then when I had a 9300 in there. this is a good quality mid grade card that runs well in my old machine. my frame  rates are about 80-100 fps with most setting on my games turned up to close to max setting. i hope this helps.

Question 9

why do some gt 730s have 96 cuda cores and some have 384?

Accepted Answer

halistine J is mostly right.  There are 3 different versions of the GT 730:  one with DDR3 RAM and 128-bit version, another with DDR3 RAM and a 64-bit version, and the third with GDDR5 RAM (64-bit only).  The GDDR5 is the best performing version, but the DDR3 RAM in 64-bit is a close second.  Most people using this card aren't going to notice the difference.  Both the DDR3 64-bit and the GDDR5 version have 384 CUDA cores, and have superior performance (in addition to higher possible resolution and lower power draw) than the 128-bit DDR3 version.  Based on the specifications, I'm really not sure why Nvidia makes the 128-bit DDR3, but I'm sure there is a reason and a market segment.  The one we're all talking about here is the GDDR5.  As far as I'm concerned, this is the best GT 730 (excluding other manufacturer's versions).  Go to Nvidia's web site and compare them; you'll see exactly what I'm referring to and the table makes it VERY easy to differentiate the advantages.

Question 10

I have a 450W PSU.  Do I need a more powerful one?

Accepted Answer

No you will not need a better power supply. This card is a mid to low grade graphics card and this particular version does not have any power connectors from the psu. It uses available power from the PCI x e port. I have a original 275 watt Dell psu with a graphic card connector not in use. The gt 730 has no power issues but on a side note lately I've been having driver issues where my screen would flash go black and eventually recover within a few seconds. I wasn't out of work right now due to health issues I would buy another card and drop the gt730 like a bad habit.

Questions & Answers