MSI GeForce GT 1030: A $70 Passively-Cooled Graphics Card, Decent With OpenGL/Vulkan/OpenCL/VDPAU

More VDPAU numbers in this OpenBenchmarking.org result file.

The GT 1030 is also a step-up over previous-generation NVIDIA GPUs in its 1080p H.264 decoding performance.

The passively-cooled MSI GeForce GT 1030 during the VDPAU video decode benchmarks saw an average temp of 46C and a peak of 55C.

And the AC system power consumption during these VDPAU benchmarks with the GT 1030 was an average power draw of just 34 Watts with a peak of 72 Watts. This card could make for a nice HTPC system.

The GeForce GT 1030 was an okay performer when it comes to gaming, but don't really expect too much for modern gaming when buying a sub-$100 graphics card. The GeForce GT 1030 was able to run a number of Linux games at around 60 FPS when using a 1080p resolution, but at times the Radeon RX 550/560 was faster. If spending a bit more money, the GeForce GTX 1050/1060 are much more competent alternatives for gaming.

The GeForce GT 1030 was working out fine with OpenCL compute and as the Darktable results show this $70 GPU can out-perform the Core i7 7700K in some operations. Where the GT 1030 also did well was the VDPAU video decode performance with being a noticeable upgrade over Kepler/Maxwell and the passively-cooled card didn't get too hot while being very power efficient.

If you are looking for a low-profile graphics card that is passively-cooled, the MSI GeForce GT 1030 can be found for about $73 USD. GT 1030 graphics cards can be found from the likes of NewEgg.com (where I bought this graphics card last week) as well as Amazon.com.