With small-form-factor PCs becoming ever more popular, a niche market for small and affordable PCIe x1 graphics is starting to emerge.

We've had PCIe x1 graphics cards around for quite a while now, but most of them were expensive models designed for specific systems used by professionals, such as Nvidia Quadro, ATI FireGL and some Matrox cards, too. Most of these cards cost well over €100, and they're pointless for HTPCs and most SFF PCs. HIS and Club3D aim to change all that, as they have launched a couple of interesting, cheap cards for ATI and Nvidia lovers.

HIS has launched a PCIe x1 version of ATI's HD 4350, clocked at 600MHz, with 512MB of DDR2 at 800MHz. It features and HDMI out, but unfortunately it's not passively cooled. The HIS HD 4350 iFan, should be available immediately, but we're still not sure about the price. HIS claims it's the perfect upgrade for several Optiplex and PowerEdge systems, as well as several SFF PCs.



Club 3D is offering a Geforce 8400 GS on PCIe x1, with 256MB of GDDR3 and passive cooling, but unlike the HIS, it has no HDMI, just VGA, DVI and TV out. You won't find an HDMI adapter in the package. It's already available with prices starting at about €42.



The second offering from Club 3D is a more powerfull GeForce 9500 GT clocked at 550MHz, Shader running with 1375MHz and GDDR3 memory clocked at 700MHz (1400MHz respectively). The downside of this card is the active cooling and the high price about the €75,- mark. With only one VGA and DVI connector, you need an adapter to get HDMI.



A number of Intel Media Series ITX boards feature PCIe x1 slots, with prices starting at €99. Investing a bit more in discrete graphics to get rid of Intel's godawful IGP doesn't sound bad. What's more, Elitegroup is selling an Atom N270 board with a PCIe x1 slotl, and it costs just €60. For comparison, ION boards retail at well over €110.

The HD 4350 is clearly the better choice as it offers HDMI and 7.1 audio, but it probably won't end up as cheap as the 8400 GS. Still, it could provide an interesting alternative to ION boards at a similar cost.