Published in Reviews

AXLE GT 240 and GT 220 tested

by on16 December 2009

Index







AXLE GT240 512MB GDDR5 card comes in a large and sturdy package. You'll instantly recognize Arctic Cooling's logo, which means that AXLE has opted to work with one of the famous manufacturers of cooling solutions.

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The box clearly states the card is named GT240, as well as the fact that it's a Gefoce 200 series card with PCI Express 2.0 and DirectX 10 support. As you already know, unlike the stronger part of the 200-series pack, this card features DX10.1 support.

The box also says that AXLE cards use Solid State capacitors and that the box-listed specs may vary depending on the actual product in the box, which explains why the box lists DX10 support and not DX10.1. AXLE simply took the old box and put the GT240 sticker, but almost every partner does these things as it certainly saves paper, time and money.

The back of the box is almost like a picture book, with pictures that don't say anything in particular, but those with vivid imagination will surely find it interesting.

AXLE also took the chance to explain a bit about the company and says that AXLE International Holding Ltd exists on the graphics card market for more than 20 years, but is also involved in PSU manufacturing.

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Within the large box is a smaller box holding the graphics card, and the box-in-box design will surely nicely shield the card from potential damage.

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Couple that with the protective foam and you can be sure that the card will be delivered without a scratch.

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Since the card features standard outs including the HDMI, the box features nothing else but the driver CD and the user's manual. 

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AXLE uses Arctic Cooling L2 on its GT 240 512MB GDDR5 card.

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The card is dual slot, which is easy to tell simply by looking at the I/O panel, which features air outlets above the connectors.

AXLE explained the reasoning behind the fan with two wires only, and it hides behind the fact that the company wanted to cater to users who want cards as cheap as they get. This is valid enough, but we don't like the fact that you'll hear the card during operation. It's not overly loud, but we'd still like it to be quieter.

The core hits only 53 degrees Celsius during operation, and we'd love the option to sacrifice a couple of degrees and get a quieter card. Idle operation renders the card inaudible and the temperatures linger around 30 degrees Celsius. 

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The card offers Dual-Link DVI out, VGA and HDMI. It doesn't come with additional SPDIF connector, which was a must on all of the previous Geforce models if you wanted to bring both audio and video to your HDTV via one cable. Furthermore, tha card supports HDMI 1.3a standard with 7.1 digital audio.

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The card packs 512MB of GDDR5 memory.

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The memory doesn't touch the cooler, but it's cooled by the air going through the cooling fins. AXLE uses Samsung K4G10325FE-HC05 modules, all of them located on the front so the other side of the card is pretty uninteresting.

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The card has no SLI connectors, which Nvidia dismissed in the case of GT240 cards, as you can easily find GT2xx cards which would be cheaper but at the same time faster than two GT240 cards.

The GT240 won't require additional power connectors, which is a direct result of the new 40nm core. GT240's idle consumption is only at 9W, whereas specs rate maximum consumption at 70W.


Last modified on 16 December 2009
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