Gainward GeForce 9400GT 512MB review

Gainward’s GeForce 9400GT graphics card is similar in design to Asus’s EAH4350.

It’s passively cooled so, unlike many budget cards, there’s no noisy fan. This makes it a good choice for media centre PCs where noise levels are of paramount importance.

There’s an HDMI output on the card for connecting it to an HD TV. This can carry audio as well, but there’s no built-in audio controller on the card as there is on the EAH4350. Instead, there’s a S/PDIF input on the card that must be connected to a S/PDIF header on your motherboard or sound card. Those without such headers should opt for the EAH4350. There are also DVI and VGA outputs, so most monitor setups are catered for. You’ll need an HDMI-to-DVI adaptor if you want to connect two DVI monitors, though.

The GeForce 9400GT was a little faster in our tests than the Radeon HD 4350, though these differences are minimal. Even when we reduced the resolution in Call of Duty 4 to 1,024×768, and disabled anti-aliasing, it managed only 22.2fps. You could play the game like this, but you should be looking to spend a little more for a faster card.

The 9400GT is more expensive than the EAH4350, but only marginally faster. It lacks the built-in audio controller, too, making the EAH4350 a better deal for those needing a budget graphics card.